


Dance of the Hyena Prince and the Prodigal Son

by lilmaeval



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, ensemble cast (lol), like they all get together at the end but the focus is on the main two ships, mentions of cannibalism, polyeden, side pairing ran nagisa/saegusa ibara, side pairing ran nagisa/tomoe hiyori, side pairing saegusa ibara/sazanami jun, side pairing tomoe hiyori/sazanami jun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 42,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilmaeval/pseuds/lilmaeval
Summary: Two souls born worlds apart find themselves united under the same sun, and without a moment to learn who they are, a star appears in the sky beckoning them to approach. Amidst the world's chaos, an empire on a mission to regain its former strength, and countless rivals racing towards the same goal, the two come together to find a version of themselves that they can love in each other's eyes.
Relationships: Ran Nagisa/Sazanami Jun, Saegusa Ibara/Tomoe Hiyori
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	1. Dawn of the End and Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hi yes hello...this is a very long RPG AU that I've been mulling over for awhile now and it's time I actually get started on it. I have another chapter I'm working on right now but I don't know how often updates will be or if they'll be this consistently long, but I hope that if you read at least this, you'll enjoy the rest :)
> 
> Twt: @nagisenpai

“Ohii-san, food’s ready.”

Jun opened the tent flap and peered inside the ridiculously spacious area, staring at the form of his travel companion resting on the cot in the back. He was still undressed, resting just as soundly as when Jun had left him earlier to go fish for breakfast. Large black nails dug into the thick leather that he found himself holding up, and the round ears on the top of his head twitched as he contemplated simply letting the man starve if he wasn’t even going to attempt to move.

Then he remembered that he couldn’t do that. Not out of being unable to afford the man’s weakness, but rather, Jun owed him a lifetime’s worth of promises. That was why they were still traveling together, after all. Even if Jun’s quest was over, even if it ended in tragedy, Hiyori’s story was far from over, and he’d earned his ownership of the fallen hyena’s soul.

Thinking about it so romantically was more or less the equivalent of getting his hopes up, however. For as much as the two had bonded in their travels together, he’d learned that the knight had his own light left at home. Hiyori was all Jun had now, and Hiyori didn’t need him the same way. A pile of papers sat upon a makeshift desk made of the paladin’s belongings, and Jun’s heart twisted in on itself as he recalled the contents. He dropped the flap tent as he stepped inside, kneeling down and reading over that which he knew would hurt him.

Amber eyes flecked with bits of a jealous green scanned over lines upon lines of words shared by a hopelessly infatuated pair of lovers. Jun traced them with the tip of one of his nails, the desire to puncture the paper with all the ease of a simple press down never stronger. In fact, what was stopping him? Something like that wouldn’t stop the letter from getting to its destination. Something like that wouldn’t mask the overall intent of the letter. Even if he were to punch out the word “love,” it would make no difference in the grand scheme of things.

_”Jun-kun!”_

A shrill, high-pitched voice called his name just as an overbearing pair of warm arms wrapped around Jun’s neck from behind. A chin placed itself atop his head, displacing his ears as they folded down to protect themselves. His hand instantly lifted from the paper, unaffected from the casual tracing of his fingertip. Lifting his eyes, he couldn’t see the person holding him captive, but he’d be an idiot to not recognize _that_ guy’s loud voice.

“It’s no good to read in the dark,” Hiyori claimed, the pout in his voice audible. “Nor is it a good thing to read other people’s letters~ Ah, but we’re about to meet him soon. Are you interested in discovering what kind of person my Nagisa-kun is?”

Jun bit back the urge to dig his fangs into his lower lip, a habit from his childhood that he found itself resurfacing as of late. He attempted to nod his way out of the stifling embrace, but only found it further encapsulating his form. The flowy sleeves from the man’s nightgown were soft and helped the hyena deal with the heat a little better, giving him a silky texture to focus on rather than the heat.

“Nngh, no,” Jun groaned, “I don’t care that bad. Rather, I’m tryin’ to see what it is that you’re tellin’ them about me~?”

“Hmm~?” Hiyori’s irritation was soon followed by the man pushing Jun to the side as he placed his letter into its envelope, likely to be stamped shut properly later. “Why, I’m only telling him exactly what you should know that it is that I have to say about you.”

“And that is?” Jun cocked his head to the side, watching as the paladin fussed in pushing his belongings into the carrying bag that would soon become Jun’s weights.

“What else is there to say?” Hiyori huffed as he pointed his nose into the air. “You’re a pathetic stray who just so happened to stumble upon me while I was bored, and in turn I attempted to help you regain control of your life. That is, I would have valiantly done so, but then you were left without a life to return to, so now you’re coming home with me~”

Hiyori reached over and began to pet Jun’s head, the hyena doing his best to avoid the touch but unable to escape that hot palm from rubbing his scalp. Too hot, too sudden, and not something he was ready for without warning, yet Hiyori always took without warning. Typical, and yet even if he’d grown used to it, Jun wondered why he couldn’t get comfortable with it already.

“You really are a stray now, aren’t you?” Hiyori wrapped his other arm around Jun’s neck, pressing his back to Jun’s side. Purple eyes drew close, and Jun’s heart raced harder than he could handle. “And despite those sharp teeth and claws of yours, you’re no different from a small animal who got caught separated from its mother~”

“Jeeze, knock it off,” Jun attempted to shrug away to no avail. Rather than torture himself longer by staring at that too-close face, he turned his face away and studied the individual threads in the carpet that had been laid on the ground. “I’m a grown man, you know. And I’m way more capable at surviving out in the wild compared to you. How soon do you think you woulda died if it weren’t for me, huh?”

“Oho?” Hiyori was the one to tilt his head this time, relaxing his grasp on Jun but not letting go. “I see, so you believe I should be grateful to you instead of the other way around, is that right? Well, the truth is, I wouldn’t have ever gone this far out in nature’s domain if not for your insistence. The reason I was out in those woods was merely for the act of finding those bandits, the ones who nearly separated your head from your shoulders. They’d had a bounty placed upon them by the nearby town, and rather than having the assistance I needed, I felt compelled to be their hero for the day. The fact that you interfered with that mission really did change every plan I had, you know.”

Jun turned back to see Hiyori’s expression, still wearing that frozen mask of a smile. This was the first he was hearing of Hiyori having any other purpose in being where he was. Though, when he thought about it a little deeper, he supposed it _was_ strange that a paladin of Rozeria would be out this far. Jun’s eyes were drawn to the area where Hiyori planted his envelope, and he felt his curiosity grow ravenous.

“Ah, you said our breakfast was ready, yes?” Hiyori stood up and headed for the entrance of the tent, blowing the flaps to the side. The wind blew in and furled itself around short curly green locks, and up through the frilly sleeves of his large white shirt. As the sun struck that warm skin of his, Jun couldn’t help but feel like Hiyori really was a princess in some respects.

Jun followed the eccentric man outside, peering out over the forest from the plateau they’d chosen as their campsite for the previous evening. Bird calls rang in the air as they traveled south, the direction of Jun’s former home. Thinking about the size of the forest they were in, and how even backtracking just that distance wouldn’t even bring him close to just how far they travelled; that was all the reminder Jun needed that he couldn’t go back. Not anymore, especially when there was absolutely nothing to return to.

Turning his attention back to his companion, Jun brushed his hand against his thick pants to wipe off some ash that had stuck to them earlier when he was setting up the campfire. Hiyori ate the fish Jun had prepared slowly, looking unenthused about the prospect compared to the way he looked at tavern food. Nonetheless he ate, likely because it would be a while before they could eat a proper meal at the rate they were going. Nothing else much to do, Jun sat himself next to Hiyori and reached out for his share of the food, much smaller than Hiyori’s own.

Eating in partial silence aside from Hiyori’s sighs, Jun found himself wanting to break it for once. He’d lived in silence for a long time and grown used to it, and Hiyori had been loud enough to make him wish for its return. However, now that they were nearing the end of their time alone for the foreseeable future, he realized he still had questions for the other, questions he needed answered before they weren’t just two anymore.

“Nn?” Hiyori reached over and poked Jun’s cheek, causing the hyena to direct a glare at him. “You’re looking gloomier than normal this morning. Did you not sleep well?” Hiyori pulled away and instead rubbed his shoulder with a grimace. “You certainly were clinging to me very hard last night, I swore if I didn’t have my magic to protect my skin from those claws of yours, I would have had your head!”

“I guess I did have a nightmare,” Jun admitted, “sorry if it reached the real world.”

“I’ll say,” Hiyori sighed, “not to mention those whimpers of yours. You sounded more genuine in your apology there than you did to me right now.” 

“What else do you want me to say?” Jun snapped as he began eating his food faster.

“Goodness, where did your manners go,” Hiyori huffed, his hand extending out once more and brushing tufts of blue hair out of Jun’s face. 

Annoyingly, it was actually helping Jun calm down a bit, if only because Hiyori wasn’t doing one of his signature heavy-handed shows of affection. He still couldn’t help but flinch every time he caught sight of those slender fingers near his face, however, a reaction that had been instilled in him from his youth. Hiyori must have eventually realized this, and rather than pull back like a normal person, Hiyori threw his arms around Jun and ignored his trembling at such a sudden action.

“You’re actually having a difficult time this morning because of it, aren’t you?” Hiyori assumed. Jun turned his head slightly towards the man, and then away once he realized how close they were. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“...Tell me who you are first, Ohii-san,” Jun bargained.

“Huh?” The question seemed to genuinely take the paladin off guard, and that did nothing to settle Jun’s stomach. “What are you talking about, Jun-kun? I’m Hiyori Tomoe, a paladin of the Empire of Rozeria! What is there for you to not know about me?”

“I mean the real you,” Jun insisted, letting his eyes be drawn to the fire flickering before them. “The you who existed before we met. The one that was out with other plans, the one who wouldn’t have helped me unless I came across you. Who’s that person?”

“Hmm~ Could it be you’re asking about my personal life?” Hiyori poked Jun’s cheek and kept doing so despite how much Jun craned his neck away from the action.

“You’re dragging me into it,” Jun argued, finally relaxing into the motion with a sigh. Just as he had, however, Hiyori pulled away from his hug and instead opted to simply sit shoulder-to-shoulder with his companion.

“‘Dragging you into it,’ what an ugly description,” Hiyori lamented, though his smile was wider than ever. “Then again, I haven’t told you the true splendor of who I am, have I? And of course, a hyena from your village hardly knows a thing outside of the savannah. The fact that you were so far north was what drew me to see where you came from, and it was there that I planned to reveal my whole plan! But it turned out there wasn’t an opportunity to do so, and now I’ve left you with a mysterious image of myself. I guess you’re right, I can’t let that continue. It would be a serious error on my part to not let the man I’ve been sharing a bed with the first thing about me, hm?”

Hiyori stood up and circled the campfire halfway, spinning around and bringing the wind with him. It caressed the green locks of his hair and lifted the bottom of his nightgown, up from the ankles it cascaded over. Hiyori held out his hands before him, the fire that had surged to life slowly dwindling to where it was once before. Not magic, but in Jun’s heart he couldn’t help but feel like he was about to witness something fantastical. Instead, Hiyori was going to tell him a story. A very, very long story.

“Now, to begin!” Hiyori proclaimed, purple eyes shining with a familiar mischievous gleam. “The best place to start off a story is at its beginning, yes? I wasn’t going to go back this far at your village, but as this is a private rendition, I’ll be extra detailed~ Once upon a time, in the Empire of Rozeria, there lived a princess-like boy who came from an impoverished noble family. Generations upon generations lived an increasingly lavish lifestyle in order to keep up with the trends, the interior of the family’s estate never consistent even within one’s lifetime. Then, the princess-like boy’s father inherited his fortune, only to realize how dry we’d run. Infuriated by the short-sightedness of his father before him, along with the countless careless ancestors that helped contribute to such a tragic result, the newly appointed Tomoe heir made it his goal to dig the family out of poverty whilst also keeping up an image that there had been no such decline.”

Hiyori’s gaze fell from Jun down to the fire, hands extending out towards it as though he were picturing the very home he spoke about.

“It wasn’t easy,” Hiyori continued, “holding parties while refurbishing old furniture to make it look new every time. Along with that, the man auctioned off a great deal of the family’s items, many at a price for well below what they were really worth. Most of the family’s friends could tell the desperation in such acts, but nevertheless, they continued to hold onto the pride of their name, and soon enough they began to see results. Small results, but enough to help them get started back up again in finding new streams of revenue. Then, the Tomoe heir’s wife became pregnant. There was much anxiety around the whole affair, but there was also much joy to be had when it turned out the newborn child was a boy—a proper heir. It seemed like the family’s fortunes were starting to finally take a turn for the better. But after a decade of careful trajectory upward, there came a single moment of carelessness that caused an unknowable amount of grief. That moment was when the head of the family’s wife became pregnant a second time.”

The queasy feeling in Jun’s stomach grew worse, and he couldn’t tell if it was just because of a bad feeling or the meal he was slowly ingesting. He stopped entirely, letting his hands fall into his lap as he listened intently to the story.

“The family weighed their options on what to do,” Hiyori went on. “Perhaps they would be lucky. Perhaps the unborn was a girl, and she could be wed off to some fabulously wealthy family. After all, the Tomoe genes were blessed with beauty, and a good deal on an arranged marriage was easily feasible. They crossed their fingers and prayed for good luck, but in the end, a son was born. A beautiful, princess-like boy who was blessed with all the fair features his parents could hope for, but with a growth destined for masculinity rather than the desired femininity. He was considered less than worthless, a spare who would receive nothing, and the best they could do was use his existence as a boost for their image, to show they were doing well enough to support two sons. Still, it was difficult. The princess-like boy had his ancestors’ taste for finer things and he embodied their royal attitude, yet it again went unappreciated due to the circumstances he’d been born in. Such bad weather, isn’t it?”

Despite the words spoken, and despite the strangely tragic story being told, Hiyori stood there smiling with all the affectation of having just said a lame joke. Jun dug his claws into the back of the log he sat upon, wondering why Hiyori wouldn’t take the opportunity to ask for pity.

“Life was destined to pass the boy by,” Hiyori spoke after settling himself down on the log behind him, gaze completely lost in the flames. “No inheritance, no purpose, not even a family to support him. They didn’t know what to do with him, so they acted as though he didn’t exist most of the time, save for the boy’s brother who occasionally played with him. That boy’s older brother didn’t see him as a nuisance, and in fact had always hoped for a younger sibling to play with. He admired the princess-like boy’s beauty, and told him of the importance of utilizing it properly one day. The princess-like boy didn’t know how, however. That was, not until he met someone that would change his life forever.”

Hiyori lifted his gaze and smiled warmly, but not at Jun. He was looking in the direction of the tent; of the letter he’d left.

“Off in the capital of the empire, the emperor had fallen,” Hiyori continued on the new tangent. “He had no known heir, and there was quite the fuss over finding one—perhaps a missing link, or a grab from other noble families with close ties. Unbeknownst to the princess-like boy, his family was among the lucky few with a claim to the man’s fortune, albeit in a strange way. His family had been chosen to take care of a peculiar possession—A doll. Preserved in an all-white room, with no windows or even a clear entrance, its discovery was made known only by the instructions written within the emperor’s diary. Inside and sat on a chair like a prized treasure, the doll was referred to as Nagisa Ran.”

“What?” Jun interrupted, his ears pointed up as he spoke. “What are you talking about? That person you’re writing to, it can’t be a doll unless you’re writing to yourself.”

“Oho~” Hiyori shimmied his shoulders as he giggled. “Getting invested, are we? Listen closely and you may understand! Yes, the doll in question is the Nagisa-kun who I’m writing to. When he first arrived at my home, however, he was quite lifeless. Though he breathed, he could barely speak and didn’t move unless commanded or picked up. My family preferred him that way, finding it easy to care for him. However, I was more than eager to have a boy my age join the family. He was a few months younger than me we discovered, and so I asserted myself as his big brother. I took him into my room and outside into the gardens which were always perfectly kept, and little by little, he began to come to life. Then one day, he reached for my hand, held it tight, and told me about his dream. How strange it was, for a doll to have a dream and not the human who helped him become one, yes? So I listened intently, and found my heart swell at the idea. A thing I could do well at, and a thing I could prove my worth to my family with. That was the dream Nagisa-kun gave me—the dream to become a paladin.”

Jun contemplated the story, and he couldn’t help but feel a little envious. A childhood promise that had come to fruition, a bond that lasted him all the way to the point he was at now, and a brighter future yet to come. Jun didn’t know much about Rozeria outside of the fantastical stories about its capital city, as well as the fierce might of its military, but even Jun could recognize at a glance the brilliant red, white, and gold colors of a paladin. Knights who served closest to the emperor, having gone through special training and given special prestige because of it. The title itself struck fear in the hearts of their opponents, and brought the healing light of salvation to the innocent. That was the person Jun was traveling with, and in every regard he was forced to wonder just why was Hiyori so...un-knightly?

“Nn?” Hiyori glanced back over at Jun, furrowing his brow. “Jun-kun, are you thinking something impolitely about me right now?”

“I don’t think so,” Jun shrugged, “I just don’t get why someone as opposed to hard labor as you would want to become a knight in the first place.”

“Ah, is that what you think of me?” Hiyori turned his head to the side and closed his eyes, bracing the cool wind with grace and dignity. “It’s true that I’m quite particular with my body’s growth, but I can assure you that a knight is the perfect role for me. After all, I was left with little to contribute to my family, the least I could do was fight for them. Immortalize our name, make sure none would ever forget who we are. I’d make myself an unforgettable soldier who carved my family’s place in history, and I did exactly that. All with my beloved Nagisa-kun at my side, who became a fine paladin himself. For him, it was easy. He’s a man blessed with many talents, after all. He gave me the encouragement I needed to get through our training, and I in turn did the same for him. There was a lot of conflict at some points with others, and in the end we lost some friends we’d made, but we always had each other and that was what mattered. In the end, the newly appointed emperor found our skills to be a cut above the rest, and we became his top two.”

Thinking back on it, there were an awful lot of people they’d come across on their journey who actually _knew_ who Hiyori was. No locals, but if there were others traveling from Rozeria and its neighbors, they didn’t even have to know his name to call it. Perhaps it should have been obvious in hindsight, but then again, Jun wasn’t one to care about titles, not anymore at least. Hiyori was a capable fighter, no matter how opposed he was to carrying anything heavier than his lance. Ears twitching impatiently, Jun spread his feet on the ground and stood up, stretching his back all the way through his tail before turning around.

“‘S a neat story, Ohii-san,” Jun grunted as he opened up the tent flap, “but we gotta get goin’ soon. Can you put the fire out while I pack things up, or help at all for once?”

“Mmmm,” Hiyori pondered loudly, “I might...But you have to get on your knees and beg first.”

Jun glowered back at the paladin, who merely smiled back smugly.

” _Please_ help,” Jun tried again.

“I told you to get on your knees—“

“Frankly, we don’t have time for me to prostrate to your ego,” Jun argued, “so could you at least do _one_ thing to make this go by faster? Or do you really wanna delay seeing your childhood friend that badly?”

The question seemed to genuinely catch Hiyori off guard, his brow furrowing while his jaw dropped. After a brief silence, he shut his mouth and brushed off his nightgown of dust, walking towards Jun and underneath the open tent flap.

“At least allow me to get changed,” Hiyori sighed loudly, keeping a steady glare in Jun’s direction. “Honestly, you’re so impatient. We’re already within Rozeria’s borders, it’s not _that_ far away. Look, you can even see the spire of the palace off in the horizon! My Jane Grey will get us there quickly, so don’t you worry. In fact, instead of bossing me around, why don’t you see how she’s doing? Oh, and where is Bloody Mary?”

“Arf!”

“Ohhh! There’s my little girl~ Have you been waiting for mum to give you kissies?”

Leaving Hiyori to make googoo noises at the pedigree stray they’d picked up on their journeys, Jun wandered over to the horse on the other side of the camp that he’d fed and given water to earlier. He brushed the black mane back over her side and away from her face, caressing gray short furs along her snout. She was a good horse, massive too. She could carry all their luggage and the weight of the paladin, Jun, and their tiny dog that was far too small for combat. She’d made things simpler to deal with, and though the hyena couldn’t speak horse exactly, he could feel from the way that she shook her head between pets that she was anxious to get home.

Jun was the same. It wasn’t his home, but it was somewhere to go. He wasn’t capable of becoming a paladin, much less a knight, but he believed Hiyori when the man said he’d have somewhere to be at his companion’s side. Even if that meant standing apart from Hiyori while he returned to the arms of the person he adored most of all. Jun’s stomach curled up once more, and he didn’t deny the reason any longer. Yeah, he was angry. He was upset. He felt led on to an extreme, and he couldn’t even tell if Hiyori was the one really at fault here. Such an overly touchy and clingy behavior was unusual for Jun to deal with, the homelife he’d left behind full of people who kept to themselves outside of sparring. He’d read too much into it even when he knew Hiyori had someone else on his mind, but it hurt to keep putting the blame entirely upon himself.

Walking back to the tent was a mistake. Opening the flap slowly, he’d ended up getting a good look at Hiyori’s backside as he lifted his nightgown up and over his head. Worse than that, the sudden chill and extra light alerted the man to his sudden reveal, but rather than grow upset, a wry grin formed upon those rosy pink cheeks of his.

“Oh?” Hiyori’s arms still covered in the silk fabric lowered, lifting a leg slightly and standing the foot on its toes. “Jun-kun, it’s impolite to enter without knocking. It’s also rude to stare for as long as you have been. What is it, then? Did you want to come in and help me get dressed?”

Was he being mocked? Or was he being asked genuinely. He didn’t know. Hiyori had a way about him that could turn any form of physical contact from innocent to dangerous in a matter of seconds. Why? Why was it that way? And why did Jun always have to feel like shit afterwards? Once Hiyori got his way, Jun was left to deal with the side-effects of such things on his own. What would happen if someone found out? Was there a chance of this happening once they reached Hiyori’s home? And why the hell was Hiyori always so reluctant to receive any touches back?

Jun let the tent flap fall, and he felt gravity pull his feet deeper into the ground below. Let him drown in the hard dirt of the plateau, out of sight from his homeland but just in view of the spire that marked Rozeria’s capital in the distance. He’d rather die than go back to that wasteland that was his birthplace, but the palace in the distance felt like an impossible goal to reach. If Hiyori had just given up on him entirely, maybe he wouldn’t be feeling this way. He could conclude that the other was just some shitty rich nobleman that was wasting his time on a peasant, and he’d survive on his own as he’d been doing prior. He wouldn’t have to deal with all these complicated feelings, this guilt, this anguish.

“Jun-kun...?” A green head poked out past the tent flap and stared up with shimmering purple eyes, thin brows raised high. “Is something wrong?”

The one thing Jun could hold onto was the idea that his rival, unknown and fairly difficult sounding, was someone Jun could dislike. Dislike for reasons _other_ than for being the one who Hiyori was going to go home to. Maybe growing up as a shell of a person made him unpleasant to be around; although, why Hiyori would then go for a surly hyena couldn’t be answered by that. Jun lowered his chin and let his eyes fully meet the pleading ones staring back at him before letting out a sigh and letting his claws dig into the hide of the flap.

“Are we goin’ back to your home today or not?” Jun asked directly. Hiyori hesitated, and then gave a nod as he furrowed his brow. “Then I’ll help you get _dressed.”_ Jun emphasized as he pushed himself into the tent.

🌊

{Six Months Ago}

Blue sandals removed and thick pant legs pulled back, Jun let his feet soak into the icy riverbank and rested with arms behind his back. His eyes were drawn to the sky above, hidden through cracks beneath the leafy canopy of tall trees. Despite that, light still came through, leaving the forest dimly illuminated but mostly cool in the summer. It was a great reprieve, as Jun had been out unsheltered from the sun for a great while before he came upon this forest.

He didn’t even know where he was really anymore, just that he was looking for somewhere he could be of use. After his banishment from his homeland, the one that claimed him to be an enemy alongside his now deceased father, Jun was effectively lost. He’d allowed himself to be picked up by a caravan, only to just as quickly be kicked when they found him to be a burden. That was how it went, landing in villages xenophobic to outsiders or stowing away in carriages while praying he wasn’t found out. It had led him north, far into a country he’d only heard tales about. Rozeria, a massive empire that had been in decline in recent years, but looked to be picking itself up soon.

But whether or not the country that wasn’t his homeland was doing fine or not wasn’t a concern of his. The people here acted no differently towards him from the places he’d left behind, and it did nothing to resolve his current situation of being entirely reliant upon himself. He had long accepted that he was entirely alone, and that he’d likely be that way for the rest of his life—

“...What the hell is _that?”_

Jun pulled his feet from the water upon a strange red stain dying the clear color. Iron permeated the air, and Jun didn’t need anyone else there to recognize what it was. He turned his head towards the direction the blood was coming from, his heart racing inconsequentially. Why the hell was he nervous? If some idiots got in a fight in the river, it wasn’t his issue to deal with, just like how he wasn’t anyone else’s problem. Stay away from trouble, just survive, that was the most he could do.

But was that worth it? Was living his whole life running away from conflict the answer? Jun couldn’t pull his eyes away from the bloody stream, and he clenched his fists tight, enough that his claws nearly pierced the skin. This iron scent, it wormed its ways through Jun’s senses and he was forced to remember the bloody scene he’d left behind. His father, beaten to death by a village who’d grown to resent him, his head falling to the ground and causing it to shake. Then, the same hands that had torn his father down turned their way towards him, and he was given his choice—stay and suffer imprisonment amongst his own people, or leave.

The longer he spent on his own, the more Jun wondered if he made the right choice. He knew he couldn’t take on his village on his own, especially not... _that_ guy. Still, maybe there was another way. Maybe he never needed to go this far north at all. What if there were people out there who’d be willing to help him? People who could speak better, write better, or do anything to prove he had something worth offering his village. He didn’t even realize how much he’d wanted to go back until it was far too late to turn heel, and yet as he walked down the riverbank to where the source of the blood was coming from, he couldn’t help but notice he was walking in the same direction as home.

The further south he went, the more Jun’s nostrils flared as the smell of blood in the water only grew. His amber gaze was glued to the sickeningly crimson river, and he wondered how much further he would have to go before he saw the end. Eventually, a large tree that had fallen over the river came into view, one that made a walking path to the other side. Even that was obstructed however, as two figures laid on the end closest to Jun. One was submerged into the water and only held up by their hood, which had caught on a branch. Though only their face could be seen, Jun could assume by their closed eyes that the man in the water was dead. The person next to him, closest to the shore and laying on top of the tree on his stomach, was a different story.

Jun slowed his steps, lowering himself to the ground and crawling silently on all fours. The grass here was short, but it was just as unforgiving as the tall grasses from back home. No matter how loud the noise made, noise was noise, and Jun had to be careful about how much he produced. It was yet to be seen whether this was just a fight between two men that saw them taking each other out, or two who had been ambushed and left as bait. It could also have been that one was still alive, trying to draw in further attackers only to slice them down. The one nearest the bank was the wildcard in this scenario, and Jun had to decide quickly whether or not he would keep his distance.

Though careful, Jun wasn’t the best tracker. He could be heavy handed at times, and though he could leap freely, he had a habit of being too quick to drop his feet. Despite that, the figure on the tree didn’t move. Maybe they were actually dead? A moment of quiet passed, and Jun stood up. The man hung with his head closest to Jun while the rest of his body hung over the rest of the log, all coated in blood and dirt. Thoroughly coated, in fact. Jun hadn’t noticed from a distance, but up close it was obvious the blood didn’t come from the man himself. There were no obvious wounds, just smudges of red and brown tossed atop the man’s garb. Playing dead, just as Jun had suspected.

Now was the time to get away as quietly but as quickly as possible. He had no idea what this person’s intentions were, and it was likely that they already knew Jun was there and waiting for his hand to draw near. Jun wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction, and he gently lowered himself back down into a squat. As he did so, he was given a better look at the man’s face. Although the rest of his body was thoroughly smudged, his skin was completely clean. Too clean, like he didn’t bother. Jun thought that was odd, wouldn’t it make more sense to try and throw off attackers by covering the whole body? Then again, dirt near one's eyes without being properly laid could cause difficulty in sight, and especially if one wasn’t used to it, cause itchiness that would be hard to deal with when trying to remain still.

Jun didn’t even realize how distracted he was getting, too caught up in staring at the pretty round face of the man playing dead and trying to justify the stranger’s actions to himself. It must have been long enough for his lack of movement to be suspicious, and as Jun studied the man’s long and pretty eyelashes, he soon found them parting open. Two purple eyes were looking right back at his own yellow ones, their curious shimmer quickly becoming something more sinister with a lowered brow. Then, movement. Movement that was swift enough to knock Jun back onto his tail, catching himself with his hands sinking into the grass. But not from the figure himself, no, from two shadows suddenly appearing from some trees in the forest, approaching the disguised stranger from behind.

“Finally caught up with ya!” The brusque redhead cried out, sticking out his tongue in an obscene manner as he raised his axe. “Now you ain’t gettin’ away anytime soon, gyaha!”

“Aww, he ain’t dead?” The dark silver headed companion to the redhead lowered his dagger with a pout, adjusting the red bandana he wore upon his head with his free hand. “Eh, whatever, guess he’ll just be a bit fresher when we cut ‘im down. Oh, and hey! There’s a kitty over there, those taste great!”

Jun panicked as blue eyes landed upon him, raising a trembling hand in front of his form. This was bad. The person playing dead was certainly also in a bad spot if he was running away from a pair of cannibal bandits, but it was unlikely that he could fight if he was forced into such a cowardly position. Maybe he was simply a traveler or he had an injury that couldn’t be seen. Either way, Jun wasn’t equipped for a long run—he had hardly eaten enough as it was that day. But if he had to run, he had to do so, and soon. The bandits were growing closer than ever, the axe raised in the air lowering as it was finding its first target in the man. A person who was entirely helpless and outnumbered, the victim of senseless violence, and once again, Jun would be forced to flee or choose to suffer the same fate—

“Hm, hm~ so you’ve finally decided to stop hiding behind that tree, have you?”

Seemingly drawn from out of nowhere, a strong steel tipped lance was raised by the man laying upon the log, catching the axe that was about to be thrown into his back. The stranger turned over onto his side, and in one swift swing, he blew the bandit’s weapon into the river. The larger one bared his empty fist, preparing for a fight, but just as quickly, he found himself reaching out for his companion.

“Wha—Hey, wait, Niki, where’re your goin’?!”

“Hngh, he’s still too strong, Rinne-kun!” The smaller bandit cried out as he retreated backwards towards the thickly forested area. “I can’t let this knife go, it was my dad’s!”

The bandit’s partner gone from the scene, he turned his head back towards the lying stranger and clicked his teeth irritatedly before running off in the same direction. It was only once the sound of his footsteps fading into the forest disappeared that Jun’s heart rate began to slow. The stranger saved him, and Jun didn’t even know why.

“Now then, what kind of lost rare thing have I stumbled upon today?”

The chipper voice was so completely unexpected that it startled Jun worse than the sight of the man standing up with ease, layers of blood and dirt shedding off of him like a blanket, leaving him completely clean underneath. How was that possible? There was no way, Jun had seen flecks of dirt buried between strands of the man’s green hair, no one could just stand up and have it all fall out, not without magic at least...

It was then that Jun saw what the man was wearing. A red and white coat, accented with golden strands and black bands that had golden fleur-de-lis embroidered on. Golden buttons connecting the asymmetrical double breasted top together with the left going over the right, and a long red cape with a white underside casted over his left shoulder. Jun had heard of this uniform and what it meant. A stylish costume, unfit for serious combat, and yet worn by those who held no fear for injury. A paladin of Rozeria, magical knights given special duties as the emperors’ guards and weapons. Wind blew through the trees, and when it halted, the sun’s beams broke through the branches of leaves and shined down fully upon the stranger, making his green hair look bright and closer to gold. Gleaming purple eyes stared down at Jun intensely, and he couldn’t tell if they were friendly or full of animosity.

“Well? Go on.” The paladin sat himself down on the log, swinging his feet while coupling his hands together in his lap. “Introduce yourself to me.”

“...Who the hell are you?” Jun returned, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

“Who I am should be obvious!” The paladin exclaimed, leaning forward with the uncanny grin on his face not fading in the slightest. “I’m telling you to tell me who you are, and why you haven’t fled for your life like you look like you’ve been doing.”

Was it that obvious, or was the man reading his mind? No, it probably was just that easy to see, wasn’t it? Jun carried nothing on him, and he approached a scene that should have scared anyone off as though he had nothing to lose. Lowering his chin, Jun finally raised it as he met the purple stare once more.

“My name is Jun Sazanami,” he introduced himself slowly, “and I don’t have more to tell you other than that. I’m banished, y’see. I ain’t lookin’ for trouble, but I guess it might look that way when I’m walkin’ up to see where blood flowin’ down a river has its source.”

“Quite,” the paladin agreed, slipping off the log and stepping closer. Then, he held out a hand. “Why don’t you tell me more about this ‘banishment,’ hm? You’ve piqued my curiosity, Jun-kun. I’m currently looking for a mission to fulfill, and you might be my ticket to doing just that.”

Jun hadn’t understood the paladin’s intentions at all. He tilted his chin up to see the man’s face, the sun blocked out by the back of his head and forming a golden halo around those light green locks. Jun’s heart raced wildly in his chest, and his jaw dropped agape. Then, thoughtlessly, he raised his hand to meet the one extending out towards him. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he should have been more cautious about trusting a stranger who wouldn’t even tell him their name. But why start playing safe now? Recklessness seemed a lot more interesting, at least, and if things got too dangerous, he could trust in his feet to carry him a little longer.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

🌊

“Jun-kuuuuuun! Are you awake yet? We’re almost there! I know it’s been a long journey, but you better wake up soon, or else you’ll fall asleep on satin sheets with nothing to fill your stomach!”

Jun’s eyes lifted from Hiyori’s back where he’d buried them, the stiflingly warm comfort a trap for weariness. As he did, he was met with a startling sight. Tall walls, nearly as big as a mountain, towered over them in an egregiously dominant display. They were crossing a bridge, grand in width and iron rails intricately laced into familiar patterns like on the paladin’s garb. They were headed towards a gate that was lifted, and in the distance Jun could hear the cries of a crowd calling Hiyori’s name. It seemed he was being honest about what a big deal he was after all.

His mind caught in a stir of the past and the present, he fondly recalled the way Hiyori nearly got them kicked out of the first tavern they ate at because of the fact that Jun didn’t know who he was. It was such a sharp contrast, seeing this cool and collected albeit slightly annoying sunny figure have a complete meltdown over a nobody like Jun having no knowledge of Rozeria’s paladins outside of the old legends. Even explaining that his homeland was too far away to hear about the people who presently lived there wasn’t enough. In fact, it only seemed to further the paladin’s aim in assisting Jun reclaim his place back home. After all, what better way to prove his name’s worth than to assist the hyena on a life changing quest?

Then again, now that Jun had a better idea of where Hiyori was coming from, he supposed it made sense for the human to be so concerned about not being known. The heartbreak at not having an audience to tell his story must have been great, though Jun wondered if the man held any sympathy for the hyena at all. Maybe he did, or maybe he was only bringing back Jun for posterity’s sake. After all, Jun still didn’t know the real reason why Hiyori was free to go on a half-year long mission, and the more reasons he came up with, the more Jun felt his hands grow numb.

Bloody Mary’s small brown head poked up and out of Jane Grey’s side satchel, ears pointed high and tilting her head at the crowd. Jun recognized this behavior and quickly jumped down from the horse’s saddle where he sat behind Hiyori. On the ground, he reached out and pulled the dog into his arms, petting her soft head with a firm palm.

“There, there, Mary,” Jun cooed, walking alongside the steed and the paladin atop. “I’m here, don’tcha worry, okay?” The dog seemed to relax after a moment, as the crowd came into focus, Jun found himself instinctively clinging to Jane Grey’s reins.

“Welcome to Cosmitropolis,” Hiyori greeted Jun as he placed his hand on the hyena’s head, petting him to grab his attention. “It’s still a long walk to the castle, and it’s dark, but it appears as though my adoring fans will guide us the way there, ahaha~!”

A swarm of eyes cast in Jun’s general direction, followed by the chirping of gossip that was easily picked up by the hyena’s large ears. Though most were about their excitement over Hiyori’s arrival, there were plenty of questions about who the hell he was. Why did he arrive with Sir Tomoe? Was he a knight as well, or just some vagrant tagalong? The ones Jun tuned out the hardest were any about his appearance; whether they were insults or compliments, he didn’t care, he didn’t need to be judged based on that. No, what he was really worried about was why he was here in the first place. The further they travelled the streets of the city, up and towards a steam powered rail station with a track connected straight to the emperor’s palace, the more the concern grew.

“You’ve never stepped foot on one of these before, have you?” Hiyori asked, watching as Jun dug his nails into the wooden seat he sat upon.

“Obviously,” Jun grunted, watching the front of the train nervously where Jane Grey had been placed. “We don’t have this kind of technology out on the savannah. There’s hardly any of it in Rozeria itself, you’ve only told me about it.”

“Hm~ I just wanted to be sure,” Hiyori hummed as he pet Mary, who was now sitting in his lap. He bumped his shoulder against Jun and let out a relieved sigh. “Almost home. I’ve been gone for so long, longer than even Nagisa was away. He must have been so worried when he came back and realized I wasn’t. In truth, I’ve been a bit concerned about seeing him because of that.”

Jun turned his head in silence towards Hiyori, and before he could remark upon any darkness in those purple eyes, they quickly closed and became as bright as the sun once more.

“But of course I’m just happy to see him again!” Hiyori grinned too widely. “And I know he’ll be happy to see me. I’ll explain you to him, and to Ibara. Oh, and speaking of, since you’re about to meet the emperor, it’s important that you don’t refer to him as such. He apparently has a weird distaste for the title for whatever reason, so just call him by his name.”

“That sounds like you’re trying to get me in trouble on purpose, Ohii-san,” Jun remarked.

“Oh really?” Hiyori chuckled. “It’s your grave then whether or not you choose to take my advice. I haven’t led you astray yet, have I?”

“What about that one time you nearly got us killed by that ocean cult being run by that crazy guy who called himself a god and all because you said he had a nice voice?”

“How was _I_ supposed to know that the hospitality we were being offered wasn’t out of kindness? I’m used to being treated like...” Hiyori turned his head and waved to some kids sticking their heads out of a building’s window that they were passing as the train proceeded forward. “I’m used to this kind of enthusiastic greeting, aren’t you aware of that now? I’m someone who was born to be loved, so any attention I get I always take as a positive~”

“...Ohii-san, you know that’s a _really_ dangerous way of thinking, right?”

“Nn? How?”

Rather than go into specifics, Jun turned his attention to outside the window and felt his stomach drop at just how high they were above the ground. The carriage they were in did nothing to help matters, shaky and the engine attached in the back blaring. Worse still, Hiyori’s insistence to sit next to him made Jun wonder if they were making the whole thing uneven. Letting out a shaky sigh, he elected to instead rest his head upon Hiyori’s shoulder.

“Never mind,” he grumbled, “just wake me up when we get there.”

“Alright,” Hiyori whispered, wrapping an arm around Jun’s waist. The hyena could picture the smugly satisfied grin gracing the paladin’s face, and wondered if he was proud to have caused such a reaction. “We’ll be there soon enough, so don’t dream too deeply, alright?”


	2. The Sun and Moon

Tall grass lined the sky above in a halo of gold amidst the sunless blue sky. Laying within the arms of the earth and nestled like a babe was a boy, staring up at the clouds that chased him from his homeland, the one he’d been banished from. The one place he belonged his whole life, no matter how many dreamless nights he fantasized about escaping it. It was the one place he could call his home, and now he had nothing but the hide on his back.

That was a bit of a lie, actually. Though the boy hailed from a village whose ancestors were both human and hyena, they kept only a few features from the feline track. Sharp black claws, large triangular ears on the top of their head, and a long fluffy tail coming out of their lumbar region were about the only signs left. Still, his people were proud of these features, and the boy himself was proud of who he was, even if being that person meant having to live his life for everyone else’s expectations.

Well, no more. The boy left to cry himself underneath the strange, heavenless sky was left to ponder what it meant to be Jun Sazanami.

The soft rustling of grass sounded in Jun’s ear like a siren, and pupils within yellow eyes dilated as they came to life. Jun flipped from the back he had been laying on to all four limbs, claws catching the ground first to silence his fall. The grass moved again, and Jun remained still. Closer. Closer. The grass was moving closer to him. Jun’s hairs stood on end, tail swishing in the air above back and forth. He could make that jump. Judging by the amount of grass being moved at once and the creature’s speed, it wasn’t a very large animal, maybe the size of a rabbit. That didn’t matter much however, not when Jun was starving. His mouth was salivating, he would take whatever he could get at this point. Lowering himself, Jun waited for one last rustle before baring his fangs and diving head first down onto his victim.

An amorphous white entity and soft red eyes overtook Jun’s vision, along with the sight of his own claws dyed a bloody red. He couldn’t stop panting, his body a trembling mess as the sky, a painting that was never real to begin with, crumbled around him. There was no rabbit, and there was no future in this world, not when the one thing keeping it alive was gone. Jun’s voice was caught in his throat, but he understood now. He understood what he did, and why his life had ended before it could truly begin.

It was God. He killed God. Those white tufts that were more like long strands of silvery white hair and those tear stained red eyes were all that could be recognized. The rest had been mangled, and the taste of iron overwhelmed Jun’s tongue. His mouth opened on its own, and rather than vomit the substance or beg for forgiveness, he could only scream. The sky continued to fall, all until the weight of the world’s gravity pulled him and God into one.

🌊

“My, what a mess you’ve made.”

A low, nasally voice stirred Jun awake from his nightmare, the one he’d been having for as long as he’d been exiled. Not every time he slept, thankfully, but often enough that he’d been able to remember more details with every time. In fact recently, the dream had felt all the more frightening, causing him to claw at whatever he was holding. This time, that happened to be a downy feather pillow he was clinging to, its contents completely spilling out onto the satin sheets he laid upon, comforter kicked to safety at the foot of the large bed. Jun sat up, spitting out feather pieces that had fallen into his mouth and then wiping off those that rubbed onto his body. Once he was mostly clean, spare a few stubborn pieces that clung to the insides of his fingers (gross), he turned to see who was speaking to him.

A strange, red haired man with a piercing blue gaze hidden behind a pair of oddly shaped spectacles was watching Jun with all the curiosity of a predator spying upon its prey. The slight upturn of his lips, a smile that failed to meet his eyes, and his lowest brow put Jun on edge. The hyena straightened his back and studied more features about this stranger. Though he was standing and Jun was standing, he could surmise that they were around the same height. White pants paired with a black jacket, which itself had a red and black check interior liner proudly spread open along with the collar. Heart shaped buttons found their place within the jacket itself along with on their cuffs, always dotted three to a column. Despite the fact that the outfit was indeed ornate, it seemed too austere for royalty, save for the strange headpiece the man wore that was in the shape of a crown rested atop a spotted white animal’s fur.

This...This couldn’t be the emperor, could it? No, no way. He was unattended first of all, and outside of the accessory he wore, he didn’t look anything close to royal at all. Maybe a military advisor at best. Jun took a deep breath and let go of the blanket he had been wringing out subconsciously, his shoulders lowering.

“I’m sorry,” he offered the strange man, “I was having a nightmare and the pillow just happened to be there. I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Oh?” The redhead leaned in, and Jun felt a strange feeling form within his stomach. This guy didn’t look anything at all like that bandit Hiyori defeated when they first met, but he couldn’t help but find it strange that this person had both a similar hair and eye color. “Are you so certain? His highness told me you have quite the bad habit of being unable to control yourself in your sleep. You seem to have a way of digging in with those weapons of yours, hm~?”

“...’His highness’?” Jun repeated the word choice and furrowed his brow. “Are you talking about the emperor or something? How would he know that? Ohii-san’s the only one who should.”

“Ah, pardon me!” The human raised his hands in apology. “I refer to Hiyori Tomoe when I say that. His highness Hiyori, who was your companion on that excruciatingly long journey, yes? The one you yourself call ‘Ohii-san’ in such a delightfully sarcastic tone!”

“...He isn’t actually royalty, is he?” Jun inquired, wondering if the question was too late, and if he was about to be faced with an even more difficult situation than before.

“Oh, no, not more than a nobleman already would be at least,” Ibara reassured. “Though a blue blood, his connection to the royal line has been watered down after generations apart. Rest assured, his highness Hiyori doesn’t need to be an emperor or even a king to be praised above those born in such positions.”

That made a lot of sense, actually. Hiyori was such a staggeringly larger than life character, it only made sense for him to be treated like one by more than just him. It was just a reminder that Jun really didn’t know the man all that well, because he’d only gotten to be with him for such a short while. In contrast this person, whoever they were, spoke about Hiyori like he was an open book.

Maybe this was Nagisa. Jun didn’t want to just say that outright, however, nor did he know if asking for the man’s name at this point would be too late. He seemed to know who Jun was, and it put the hyena at a disadvantage. If he called out the name he had in mind, could it end badly? Or would the human simply laugh, correct him, and move on? Before Jun could even attempt in the privacy of the room, however, the man moved himself towards the entrance.

“It was certainly nice to meet you, Jun Sazanami,” the human dismissed as he placed his hand on the doorknob. Blue eyes turned to meet Jun’s, narrowing while a smirk formed on that pretty heart shaped face. “His highness gave his highest regards for your performance, and even though he returned with empty hands, I’m hopeful that you’ll provide to be a very useful pawn.”

“A useful pawn...?” Jun’s brow raised, and then he found himself jumping to his feet out of the bed just as the door was opened. “Ah, hey, wait, where’s Ohii-san?”

“Hm~?” The human blinked, his hip jutting out behind him and his expression turning to something dour before lighting back up as he spoke. “Ah, yes, his highness is with his excellency right now, as expected. They have a  _ lot _ of catching up to do, and explaining as well I assume. Ahaha! I would highly encourage that Jun wait to be introduced, as asking to meet before then would be a rather difficult arrangement~☆”

Before Jun could get another word in, the door slammed behind the strange human, and Jun was left to figure out what to do. Was there anything to be done at all? Or was he just expected to stay in the room he’d been escorted to the previous night? What time was it even?

The bellowing ring of a loud bell coming from outside caught Jun’s ears instantly, causing him to flop them down against his head. Turning to face the window, he counted the tolls of the bell tower that stood in the center of the city. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Noon, it had just turned noon. Jun shivered all the way down to his tail, shaking it out as he grasped the window ledge. Had he really been that tired? Then again, he hardly recalled the end of the previous evening. He and Hiyori had arrived, discovered that the Emperor and Nagisa both were unexpectedly away, and rather than stay together, had told Jun to get his rest and that they’d see each other the next day.

Remembering at least that much, Jun tried to put it out of his mind that his companion had gone to help those two out with whatever they were doing. Of course he would, not only was his childhood friend there but also his liege. The fact that he set Jun to go sleep was only his way of trying to look out for the exhausted hyena. Turning his head back towards the bed, however, Jun wondered how he managed to get to sleep on it. The mattress and all its bedding, they were too soft for him. Yet all the same, the moment his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. It probably wouldn’t happen so easily the next night, however, so Jun braced himself for sleeplessness from here on out.

Sleep he could deal without. Hunger, he couldn’t. Jun’s stomach grumbled loudly, deprived of breakfast and ready for lunch. Still, how easy would that be to get in a place like this? When they’d arrived, the staff of the palace were...Curious to say the least. Eyes studied him like a gaggle of children around a bird that had fallen dead from the sky. Fascination, disgust, confusion; they weighed down upon Jun’s soul, and he wanted to do nothing more than hide. He wanted to cease being perceived, but that was impossible now. Banishment and then the subsequent loss of his homeland together meant he was destined to be an outsider for the rest of his life. A life that had hardly begun, and yet despite his youth, he could hardly see it changing for the better.

Thinking that way didn’t quell the hunger pangs in his stomach. No, now was the time to focus on his survival. Jun approached the door to his room, extended his hand slowly, and turned the knob. He stepped out onto a hallway set on the second floor above the main entrance foyer, the vaulted ceilings inserted with stained glass windows that formed pretty patterns on the large black and white check floors. A red carpet ran from the carpet all the way to a massive crimson statue in the shape of a chess queen, gold leaf accenting the lines as well the placard at the base. On either side of the statue, staircases lined with the same carpet curled around its shape, reaching a floor at the midpoint of where the foyer and the hall Jun stood upon met.

If Jun was to reach the kitchens, he’d have to descend out into that open area to sneak around to the doors that laid on either side of the stairs. He’d also have to pass by a lot of guards, and while he was certain Hiyori did his best to alert everyone of his stay, he couldn’t know for sure if he’d be mistaken for a thief. After all, his dress was entirely different from the skintight fashions of the Rozerian elite. He didn’t want to be thrown in the brig and be forgotten about simply for wanting to grab a piece of bread. 

The doors to the palace were suddenly thrown open, catching Jun entirely off guard. He grabbed onto the banister meant overlooking the foyer, leaning over to get a good look at the commotion. Staff from the palace gathered around the entrance and bowed their heads as a company entered the scene. Four soldiers—no, paladins, four paladins were surrounding a figure in the middle. Someone dressed similarly to Hiyori, wearing a cape along his left shoulder to match. His dress however was the least exceptional thing about him. He had long, wavy silvery white locks slicked back into a thick ponytail, with a few pieces hanging over the man’s shoulder. Red eyes shone a pretty and rare orange as they observed an unpolished green gem held up to the light above. A soft, curious expression turned into a gentle smile, brows raised in delight.

Jun watched from the position above in fascination as he attempted to figure out just who this mysterious looking person was. Even if the person wasn’t being so heavily guarded, even if there wasn’t already a great deal of physical distance between them, Jun could feel the difference in weight between their souls. He wasn’t really sure how to describe it, or rather, it was more like an instinct. His very nature felt completely beneath that person who stood below, like a gazelle running towards the edge of a cliff that it had been herded off towards by its predator. Already defeated. Already fallen.

Then, with a simple turn of his chin, the otherworldly being was suddenly staring back at Jun with wide red eyes. A wad of spit caught in Jun’s throat that he couldn’t quite swallow, ears flopping flat against his head and his tail falling straight down. His nails were starting to pierce through the wooden banister’s rail, and he wondered how he was still standing. There wasn’t a single thing Jun could read from that blank, hollow expression, one that held no discernible judgement for the hyena to internalize. He was being examined, just like the rock in the man’s hand.

One of the paladins called the human’s attention, snapping him away from the brief gaze he shared with the hyena. Jun, in turn, fled. Not downstairs towards the kitchens, but instead back into his room. Leaning against the slammed shut door, he held a shivering loosely closed up hand to his trembling chest, his breathing uneven as he attempted to regain his lost rhythm. His vision had grown blurry, the lines in the porcelain tile below blending together. What was this feeling coming from? This emptiness, this hollow pit that had formed within him; or maybe it was always there to begin with. Tears pooled at the corners of Jun’s eyes, and he couldn’t explain why.

The dream he’d nearly forgotten about earlier made its presence known in his mind once more, but Jun wasn’t about to let it eat away at his sanity any further. That thing from his dream, that red-eyed creature that pulled him into his doom...That thing wasn’t human. Maybe it really was a rabbit, and it was his own mind unable to process its shape that made him believe it to be something else. That had to be it. The two had nothing to do with each other, and this piercing feeling of being seen through was something else entirely. Who wouldn’t feel that way after seeing someone so otherworldly?

He didn’t know the human’s name, and he didn’t know if they knew who he was. He thought back onto the man’s appearance, to those wavy long locks that looked like thorns. That could have been the emperor then, right? The one named Ibara. Though he dressed similarly to the only paladin Jun knew closely, maybe that was by design. It could be that he had been out on a mission and needed to be a little inconspicuous by dressing as a paladin instead of an emperor. That had to have been the case.

His breath finally regained, Jun wiped away the sweat that had formed on the back of his neck. He decided it was probably for the best to just wait for Hiyori to show up on his own. At the very least, the adrenaline quelled his hunger for the time being.

🌊

A hand clasped around his own, warm and soft. Jun stared at the back of the hand, noting how clean and smooth the skin was, like a woman’s. He wanted to hold it back, squeeze it tightly and bring it to his own lips, but before he could, it let go. Footsteps sounding down the hall were the reason why, and Jun’s tail fell limp behind him.

“Oh...Are you nervous?” Hiyori asked, sincerity in his voice drowned out by the babyish way he said it. Jun grunted in response.

The footsteps passed them by, and Jun found his hand clasped again. He remained still, letting his gaze fall to a corner of the room. They were sitting in a vast hall, a war room of sorts. It was made of dark grey brick and given some vibrancy with tassels of maroon tapestries lining the columns, along with the golden candelabras that gave the dark space light. They were sat at one side of a table, which had a massive map of the continent spread out upon it. Flags and markers sat in a box at the nearby edge, and Jun traced the lines one by one. He felt a small pressure form on his palm, lithe fingers pressing together around it.

“You  _ are _ nervous,” Hiyori giggled, moving in to wrap himself around Jun’s arm only to find the hyena shrug his shoulder away. That didn’t stop the embrace from happening of course, and soon enough Jun found himself trapped within a dangerous heat. He begged for the sound of footsteps to appear once more, but was only met with silence.

“It’s dangerous for you to be caught doin’ this, ain’t it?” Jun asked to clarify, keeping his head away from Hiyori’s. He could feel the man’s breath on his neck.

“Mm, I don’t know what you mean,” Hiyori mumbled, letting his hand trail over Jun’s chest, down past the fabric covering it and feeling his sternum with his fingertips. “I’ve already spoken at length with Nagisa-kun about our time apart. We’re very open with each other and keep nothing secret. He’s eager to meet you, so you should be grateful for that. He’s a very enthusiastic person, but it might be difficult for you to see that. Just do your best, be polite like I know you can be.”

Hiyori stroked a hand through Jun’s hair, and today it seemed the action was making him more restless than relieved. Shivers running down his spine forced him to wiggle further away, until the chair he sat upon was at least thirty centimeters apart. The added distance brought with it a cool wind upon his exposed shoulders, but it was better than losing his cool altogether thanks to Hiyori’s handsy attitude.

“You truly are so ungrateful,” Hiyori lamented, albeit the sigh he left out was quieter than normal. Jun made the mistake of letting his eyes be drawn back, and felt his heart shatter at the sight of those purple eyes wistfully gleaming back at him, his smile almost entirely gone. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll still take care of you, I promise.”

A familiar voice echoed in the hall just outside of the entrance, one that Jun had heard only once but couldn’t forget. Ah, that was the voice of that man who woke him up earlier, the redhead. Jun clenched his hands together and placed them in his lap, only to find his arm being tugged. Hiyori was standing and urging him to do the same, and so Jun did just that, keeping his hands balled up at his side.

Shadows against the wall grew smaller until finally, two figures came into view. Two figures Jun had definitely seen before. Of all people, it had to be them. First, the redhead, who held in his hand a comically sized book that practically dwarfed his torso. Despite that, he held onto it as though it were nothing. His companion beside him, however, was the one Jun couldn’t take his eyes off of. That strange human, the one that stared into his soul earlier, that godlike being—

Red lasers found Jun’s form again, and the Hyena had never felt so trapped.

“Wah~ Nagisa-kun!” Hiyori’s voice shrieked as he rushed over towards the two. “And Ibara-kun~ Come here, come here, I need to introduce you to my Jun-kun!”

Jun watched as Hiyori darted around the table and pulled both men into a hug as the large wooden doors to the hall closed behind them, leaving Jun stuck off in the back by himself. Despite Hiyori’s words, he was spending an awful lot of time crushing both men equally in his embrace. One of which was the emperor. Was that allowed?

“Your highness, please—“ The redhead from earlier gagged. “Refrain from such affection until we have at least been properly introduced!”

“...Mm, I am anxious to meet this ‘Jun-kun’ you’ve spoken so fondly about as well,” the tall silver haired one added. His voice was deep, yet quiet, falling into a whisper near the end of his speech. Jun felt himself grow entranced, forced to catch himself from stumbling over nothing as he shifted the weight on his feet. The shuffle was noticed, and three pairs of eyes landed on him. Oh no.

“Jun-kun~!!” Hiyori exalted his name with hands raised, rushing over first and planting his hands on the hyena’s shoulders firmly. Unable to move, unable to run, he was forced to stand as the two approached.

As Jun expected, the redhead was about his height, albeit he wondered how close he would really be if he took off those heels of his. The silver haired man meanwhile stood a full neck taller than Jun, and paired with his broad shoulders and thick limbs, his overall presence thoroughly outmatched the hyena entirely. It only added to how small Jun felt comparatively, his eyes having a hard time meeting those intense red ones that were studious in nature.

“Well, Jun-kun?” Hiyori’s breath was hot against Jun’s cheek. “Introduce yourself! I know you know how to.”

Or did he? Jun was completely frozen, tasked to do something impossible. Who was he to introduce himself to a godlike being that was probably the emperor of a ridiculously massive empire? Even the redhead, though far less intimidating in presence, held an air of formality and intellect. Along with that, he placed the gargantuan book down with a heft and acted as though he wasn’t carrying a damn thing. Just how strong was he?

“Ahahaha! Your highness’s demands are too high for even your charge, it seems~” The redhead proclaimed with hands placed upon his hips. “Very well, why don’t we introduce ourselves first then? I’m not opposed. I believe his excellency should go first, in any case.”

That loud voice and just the way he spoke in general...It was all incredibly familiar. Almost like he was mimicking Hiyori, just like the doll that the paladin spoke about. Though he wasn’t exactly the spitting image of gentle calmness, he certainly dressed in a way that fit the family name of Nagisa Ran. That had to be him, as the only other person Hiyori said would be coming with Nagisa was the emperor. And the emperor...There wasn’t any way it  _ wasn’t _ the imposing silver haired figure before him.

“Um, no, sorry,” Jun spoke up, forcing himself to speak through the bile that was building up in his throat. “I’m jus’ not used to bein’ the one doin’ the speakin’, Ohii-san’s usually got that covered.”

The silver haired figure seemed unamused by the poor attempt at relatability, lowering his chin and lips parted slightly. Was that an expression of boredom or frustration? Jun opened his palm and attempted to subtlety wipe the sweat onto his pant leg before holding it up. They shook hands in Rozeria, so all he needed to do was wait for the human to take his and complete the motion, all while focusing on not digging his nails into that thankfully gloved wrist.

“M-My name—“ Jun took a deep breath, feeling Hiyori’s knee press against his own. “My name is Jun Sazanami. It’s nice to meet you, um...” But what if it  _ wasn’t _ the emperor? The panic set in, and then he recalled the redhead’s own words. He said a title—something he could call the man before him. “It’s nice to meet you, your excellency.”

Slowly, Jun found his hand engulfed in the much large one, caught in a firm grasp that raised and lowered it in an even motion. The handhold didn’t stop the moment they were done, however, the man still held on even as Jun initially let go. Caught off guard, he reasserted his own grip, an action which he was immediately forced to question. Why were they still doing this?

“...I wish you wouldn’t refer to me as such,” the silver haired man bemoaned. Jun lifted his gaze and noted how pronounced the man’s under eyelids were; they were cute. The sudden and unwanted thought forced Jun’s palm to sweat more, and he was grateful the man was wearing a glove. “...I detest titles, I find them unnecessary and devices to separate people from one another. I would like it if you could call me by my name instead.”

Shit. Jun didn’t have a chance to cover for his lack of knowledge anymore. Why the hell did he keep forgetting to ask Hiyori to at least describe the appearances of the people they were going to meet? Jun lowered his brow and let out a sigh. No, it wasn’t fair to put that blame entirely on Hiyori. He was the one who avoided exploring the palace the entire day. Rozerians were the kind of people who were known for their portraits, certainly he would have found ones for both of them in the halls since they were important figures, right?

“Right,” Jun sighed, swallowing down his fears and preparing his gamble with a swish of a tail. “Sorry, um...Ibara.”

“...Eh?”

A raise of a brow, the inflection in that ordinarily quiet voice, the way he could feel Hiyori’s fingers clamp down harder onto his shoulders. Fuck. Shit. No. Wrong name. Completely wrong.

“Ah...Aha...AHAHAH!!” The one standing next to the miscalled silver haired man, the one currently bowing over with arms wrapped around his stomach as he let out an uproar of laughter— _ that _ was Ibara? That was the emperor of Rozeria? No. No, how the hell was Jun supposed to know that? That didn’t make any sense. Jun couldn’t make sense of it. He found the hold on his hand finally relaxed, and he didn’t hesitate to pull his fist back to his side.

“Jun-kun!” Hiyori cried out, his shrill voice the absolute last thing Jun wanted to hear. “You did  _ not _ just do that.” Despite the words he spoke, Jun could hear how terrible of a job Hiyori was doing attempting to mask the cracks of laughter escaping him. “H-Honestly, how does anyone make that mistake? Getting Ibara-kun and Nagisa-kun mixed up, it’s so—“

“...Hiyori-kun.” The larger man, the one with the intimidating red eyed gaze that felt as though they saw through Jun entirely, were instead directed at the person right behind the hyena’s shoulder. Despite that, Jun couldn’t help like he was the one being glared at with that low set brow. “...If you didn’t tell him how we looked, how was he supposed to know? Why did you withhold that from him?”

“E-Eh?” Hiyori’s attitude entirely changed from what Jun knew. Even if it was just a simple stutter, it carried an apologetic tone that was foreign to the hyena. “You’re not actually blaming  _ me _ for his mistake, right, Nagisa-kun? I mean, I just assumed it was obvious! Ibara-kun and Nagisa-kun, your names speak for themselves, don’t they?”

In truth, it probably was exactly that way to Hiyori’s mind. He was the type of person who had such a specific view of the world. It made sense to only him that “Nagisa” meant the foreboding figure before them and “Ibara” the shifty individual next to them. Hiyori let go of one shoulder, and then pushed him to the side away from the table with both hands. The paladin rushed into his childhood friend’s arms, arms which extended to meet him, albeit their grasp was low and weak.

“Nagisa-kun, you know you mean everything to me, don’t you?” Hiyori pleaded, and Jun wondered if he was actually hearing  _ tears _ of all things. “I promise you, if I forgot to mention your handsome face, it’s completely because I forgot your face wasn’t known by the whole world already!”

“His excellency has an unforgettable visage,” Ibara agreed, snapping out of his laughing fit as if it hadn’t happened at all. “The fact that anyone would think he was born with a name as detestable as my own is simply a crime one should lose their head over! But we shall pardon it for now, as our guest here is looking quite faint.”

The emperor’s sense of humor was the absolute last thing Jun needed to suffer right now. This wasn’t just bad, he really did feel like he had to hurl. Purple and red locked onto his figure, staring at his pathetic, trembling form.

“...Yeah,” Jun spoke barely above a whisper, head lowered to his feet, “I just...I just need some air. Please.”

He asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he walked around the reunited family and pressed his heels down hard to the ground as he approached the door. A hand extended out, but Jun dodged it without a second thought. Once he was out of the room with a forceful push, he ran. He didn’t know where, and he didn’t know how he was going to find his way back in the maze that the palace was. All he knew was, he didn’t want to stay in that room any longer. Embarrassment at himself was one thing. Blame from the person who’d been protecting him this entire time was another. He was  _ done. _

🌊

As Jun expected, the mattress he was given to rest upon was far too soft for him to fall asleep upon normally. It was only thanks to his extreme exhaustion from the previous day that he was able to find the rest he so desperately needed. Now though, when he was simply looking for dreams to distract him, that was when they decided to elude his waking mind.

Palms laid flat against satin sheets, eyes drawn to the waxing gibbous moon outside his window, he wondered how it was that the same celestial body that hovered above the city was supposed to be the same that once shone upon his home down below. Surely something that looked so beautifully picturesque there couldn’t possibly look just as brilliant here. The people of this city lived in a splendor unknown to Jun, and to think they could enjoy such a treasure like that kind of night sky the same way he was able to as a pathetic cub overlooking the grasslands, it made his anger at the situation only swell. This country bred its people to be selfish, and Jun had only learned that far too late.

_ Knock-knock _

Jun knew who it was. It was the same knock that he got to hear on the rare nights he got to stay at an inn with  _ him. _ The person whose name he hardly wanted to think about at that moment. If he could go back in time to the point where that person’s face remained nameless, maybe he’d be a whole lot happier than he was now. Maybe. Then again, he was feeling this shitty because of all the warmth he’d gotten to experience suddenly dissipating from his sky. Having that leave him, watching it return to someone so far away and distant...

_ Knock-knock-knock _

Amber eyes glazed over as they stared at the corn yellow color of the moon, just a night away from being whole. Then, it would fade away into nothing. A dark, empty object in the sky with no one to remember it was even there to begin with. It was the one thing out of place in the sky, after all. Not a star, or a blinding sun that gave off an endless loving light. It was the only thing in the sky that needed the light of others to reach its full potential. But without that light, it was cold. Maybe the wealthy elite here really were the ones who deserved it the most. After all, it was as Hiyori said, the tastes of those with power were constantly changing. It only made sense to collect a moon and then just as quickly throw it away for another.

“Jun-kun. I’m coming in.”

The voice he’d come to loathe and prayed to hear anyway entered the room, missing its normal vigor. The strange quietness was fitting for the evening for once, and Jun wasn’t sure if that was just because Hiyori was being genuine in his attempts to keep a night whisper or if he was simply more in his element in this place rather than out in the wilds. The pitter patter of delicate footsteps across the porcelain floor drew near, and then a small weight placed itself upon his bed. Too small to be Hiyori. A wet object pressed to the back of Jun’s fingers, and he picked up on the sound of sniffing with his drawn back ears. He raised his hand carefully, so as to not harm the creature approaching him. In return, the small animal crawled closer, up into the crook of Jun’s arm. Placing his hand on her back, he gently stroked her soft fur and turned his head towards the door.

Hiyori was staring down at him with an all too pleased smile, sitting himself on the edge of Jun’s bed. The difference in weight was staggering compared to Mary’s, but Jun kept his mouth shut on that. He didn’t feel like attacking Hiyori for something so pitiful, not when he had other things to be upset about.

“She’s yours for the night,” Hiyori stated as he placed his hand on Jun’s leg, rubbing his thumb firmly onto his exposed knee. “One lovely Bloody Mary for my dear Jun-kun.”

“That’s because you’re staying with him tonight, right?” Jun asked to clarify, surprised at his own lack of restraint. Perhaps it was just his exhaustion getting to him, forcing him to forget how to watch his tongue. Crankiness that that paid off by giving him the satisfaction of watching Hiyori’s smile falter oh so slightly.

“Yes,” Hiyori admitted, leaning onto the bed further and lifting his knee atop the sheets, “that’s right. I will as well, for as long as he and I are under the same roof. It’s part of the promise we made, to always stay together after all.”

“Yeah?” Jun released Mary from his arms and pulled up the blanket he’d kicked down earlier, tossing over onto his side facing the window. “Then go do that then. Keep your promise to at least somebody.”

“Jun-kun...”

“Stop,” Jun turned his head further into the pillow. “I’m fine. I knew this was going to happen, I just...I just need some space for a while, okay?”

Asking for space from Hiyori was an impossible task. Despite that, he still figured the paladin would find something better to do than deal with a miserable hyena out of its environment. But just like back then, he was somehow proven wrong. A warm hand placed itself on his shoulder, and at the same time, another atop his head, brushing through his blue hair and scratching around his ears. It must have been some cruel twist of fate that the same person who could bring him so much grief in one moment was the very same who could bring him peace in the next.

“I mean to keep the promise I made to you, you know,” Hiyori whispered; a real whisper, one that Jun had to strain his ears to hear. Did that mean it was important, or had Hiyori finally learned how to lower his volume after all this time? “I promised to bring you back to your home and get you back your place there. Even if it’s not the home you were expecting, I want to make this place somewhere you can belong, little by little. I’ll love you until it's the place you long to return to when you’ve left.”

Maybe in other circumstances, Jun could find comfort in those words. However, all he could think of were all the mean things he wanted to say in retort. How would he find comfort in a bed that swallowed him whole and left him gasping for air in his sleep? How would he find a place to belong surrounded by people who looked nothing like him when that was the kind of home he’d been in his whole life? What was the purpose of bringing him here if he was meant to always place second in the heart of the person who mattered most to him?

“...Y’know, Ohii-san,” Jun murmured, turning his head away from the pillow and letting their eyes meet, “if you’ve known how to whisper this whole time and just elected not to do so when you knew it could’a saved us from having been ambushed as many times as we were, I’m gonna get even more mad at you.”   
  


“You shouldn’t be upset with me to begin with!” The raise in volume, the way his smile brightened like true joy had found its way inside his spirit again, that was Jun’s doing. He was the one who gave up on expressing his true discontent, just to see that damn smile. “The sun must always be shining at its brightest, hm?”

“Yeah,” Jun conceded, just like he always did, “and the moon’s always gotta be there for it to give its light away.”

“Hmhm~” Hiyori’s grin only continued to grow, and Jun couldn’t help but let a similar one form. He knew it would fade soon, but for now, he’d cling to what he could get. “I really have trained you well, haven’t I? Praise me for my work in refining you, o brutish beast!”

“No,” Jun denied flatly. Flicking his eyes back to the sky, a cloud crossing over the moon obscured it to view, and in turn, the sour note around Jun’s heart reared its way back in. Though currently the sole object of Hiyori’s affections now, it wouldn’t be the case for too long. “Go to bed, Ohii-san. Go to the bed you’ve been waiting to sleep in this whole time.”

The hand stroking his hair didn’t halt despite Jun’s words, only slowing down until eventually, it fell to his back. A single rub, and then he felt Mary’s small form pushed against his spine. Jun let out a sigh, curling up further into himself.

“I will,” Hiyori responded, his weight evaporating from the bed and causing it to bounce back into place suddenly. “Goodnight, Jun-kun. I’ll be there for you in the morning.”

He was sure Hiyori would. After all, he needed to pick up his dog, right? Jun tensed up, biting his lip until he heard the door shut with a click. Then, he reached over to the other side of the bed and pulled a pillow into his arms. The one he’d torn to shreds the previous night had completely disappeared by the time he’d returned to his room, but it seemed as though Jun would be giving it a companion in whatever grave it was buried in. Awake and unrelenting, he let his claws dig into the silk, the same texture as Hiyori’s nightgowns. However, instead of the satisfying sinking in of flesh, he only felt downy softness that stuck to his fingers, physical proof of the destruction he’d caused. The pillow still mostly intact, he shoved it over his head.

Then, all his walls entirely collapsed and face thoroughly hidden away from the world, he let the final dam fall as tears escaped his ducts that had been dry for the past six months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Jun-kun...Don't worry, he'll be treated right soon. Next chapter is going to be Nagisa POV, look forward to it!


	3. Blown By the Same Wind

Apples and fresh lavender roused the senses of the dreaming knight, his world still lost to darkness. A brush of warm skin across his chest; fingertips caressing him from his abdomen to his sternum. The laying knight turned his head, and slowly his eyes parted open to find a pair of darling amethyst ones staring back. Instantly, the corners of his lips turned up on their own, and Nagisa rolled over to meet the touch as he extended his arms around the form of his companion. Bringing him back in, bringing them both back home.

“...Good morning, Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa greeted quietly, pressing his face into Hiyori’s shoulder. His body was soft and pleasant to hold as always, squashy and hot. A perfect pillow that Nagisa could lose his grip on this world for just a little while, knowing Hiyori would wake him when it was time.

“Hm~hm~!” Hiyori squeezed Nagisa back, his grip delightfully strong as the knight remembered it to be. “Nagisa-kun wakes...I’m so happy~”

“...Was there a reason why?” Nagisa raised his chin slightly, but found his view of Hiyori’s face obscured. The best he got was a side profile of his cheek, enough to see his smile. A smile that Nagisa already knew wasn’t anything he could use to read the man’s true feelings.

“Because I wanted to talk with you, of course!” Hiyori answered. “I got even less sleep than the night before. I was so anxious, waiting for you to get back, and then we were finally sharing a bed again and I couldn’t stop thinking about how happy I was to be here.”

“...Hiyori-kun, that’s no good,” Nagisa remarked. “...You need to get some proper rest. Do you want to stay in bed while I get changed?”

“No, no,” Hiyori shook his head and sat up first, Nagisa greeted with the sight of his back slowly relaxing. “I do have to wake up, in any case. Bloody Mary needs to get taken out and fed for the day.”

With that, the weight on Hiyori’s side of the bed grew light as he slipped off. His nude backside was a sight for sore eyes, covered in marks and scratches as the two braced themselves together, any magical protection gone by their own choice. Yet despite all that intimacy, Nagisa found his fingertips reaching out to touch the area where he once was.

“...Where did you leave her last night?” Nagisa inquired. “...I would have thought you would have brought her in here to let me have a better look at her. I didn’t get to see her for very long outside of our brief walk yesterday.”

“Ah, that is...” Without seeing Hiyori’s face, Nagisa could see the way his companion’s shoulders tensed. Oh.

“...You left her with that boy,” Nagisa answered the question for himself. Hiyori’s head turned, and the smile he wore confirmed that he was right.

“Yes, I did,” Hiyori admitted, letting his body turn back as he dressed himself into his day clothes. “Jun-kun was still having a hard time last night, so I brought Bloody Mary in there to cheer him up. I’m sure she helped make his night a little more familiar.”

“...I see,” Nagisa noted quietly.

“Mm,” Hiyori moaned with a furrowed brow, staring at the one still in the bed with a hard look. “Did you want to come? I was going to take the walk with Jun-kun, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you came along.”

Nagisa didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling as he heard the way Hiyori spoke. Was he being invited because Hiyori wanted him there, or because the man felt compelled to bring Nagisa along when he wasn’t really wanted? It was difficult to tell. Ibara was one to say Hiyori was easy to understand, but Nagisa couldn’t say the same, and it was growing all the more clear with each day.

That, and he felt bad for the boy who he’d accidentally hurt the previous day. Sitting up in the bed, Nagisa clutched the bedsheets and kept his eyes on the way that they folded in his grasp. 

“...No,” he rejected, “go be with Jun. This is a strange world to him, is it not? Go protect him, like you used to protect me.”

Arms covered in baggy cotton wrapped around Nagisa’s shoulders, lips pressing to his ear. Why did this kind of touch feel so calculated? Nagisa couldn’t figure out when this had changed. All he knew was, it made his head spin trying to understand. He wrapped his arm around Hiyori’s waist, breathing in time as the man pressed himself further in.

“Bringing up the past like that,” Hiyori chuckled, brushing his mouth against Nagisa’s cheek, “you’re not the kind to do that often. Have you been thinking about it more now that we’ve spent a long time apart?”

“...I want to always be with you, Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa replied. “...My memories of our youth together will be forever precious to me. I want to be able to accommodate for the future as well. Ibara...The emperor is the one who needs support and love to grow into a man as great as Father. You’ve chosen to put your heart into that boy, so you should look after him as though he’s as valuable to him as the person you swore allegiance to.”

“Nn...” Hiyori let out the whimper and then asserted himself onto Nagisa properly, straddling his lap and placing his hands on the man’s shoulders. His brows were set low in determination, lip straight and unsmiling. “Nagisa-kun, it’s not like I can only love one person at a time. I’m the sun, aren’t I? You don’t have to worry about things like that. Just let me take care of you all, I promise I’m more than capable. I haven’t forgotten about my oaths, nor will I ever forget our promise. Jun-kun is still growing, and I’ve managed to take him from a scrappy fighter to a noble warrior. I know I...I failed in what I set out to do, but I believe in Jun-kun’s ability.”

“...Is that why you’ve been so nervous?” Nagisa tilted his head, watching as Hiyori’s eyes widened. “...Though Ibara was a little upset that you didn’t come back with reinforcements for the amount of time you were gone, I was just happy to have you back. I believe you when you say you believe in him. In fact, it makes me feel relieved. Hiyori-kun has always had a habit of avoiding confrontation when it doesn’t suit his needs, so to know you were spending that time helping someone and not running away makes me happy.”

“O-Of course I was!” Hiyori exclaimed with a firm pout forming on his cheeks. “Where did you get that interpretation of my character, Nagisa-kun? That viper has taught you some truly worthless things, hasn’t he?”

“...Hiyori-kun, you shouldn’t speak about him as such,” Nagisa chided gently, finding Hiyori pushing himself further into his touch.

“Ah, but how can I not?” Hiyori held Nagisa’s head tightly in his bosom, petting loose locks of silvery white hair. “My Nagisa-kun is so pure, but it only leaves him susceptible to corruption. You’ve been stained such a dark color, haven’t you?!”

“...Nn,” Nagisa placed his hands on Hiyori’s hips and attempted to push him away slightly so he could breathe. “...We have, the both of us, been through the same things these past ten years. Of course it’s only when we’re apart for an extended period of time that it seems like we’ve changed, because we’ve been growing together up until this point.”

“My, such wise words,” Hiyori raised a brow. “But perhaps you’re right. It was the longest we’ve ever been apart since we met, of course, and Nagisa-kun is quick to learn things. If only I could have been at your side to see it, perhaps it would have been easier to accept.”

“...You could have though,” Nagisa pointed out, “you were the one who chose to take matters into your own hands with the situation we’ve found ourselves in.”

“Yes,” Hiyori sighed, finally pulling himself away and off the bed. The shift in weight and loss of warmth was immediately noticeable, and despite Nagisa’s own words, he found himself wanting to pull the man back in. “You’re right. I was the one who left, so I must take responsibility for what I brought back.” A hand extended out, grasped a few locks of silvery white hair, and brought them up to Hiyori’s lips. “I’m hopeful you will join me for a walk in the future. And please, do your best to get along with Jun-kun, okay? You said yourself that he needs protection, so promise you’ll see that it's the same as protecting me.”

Hiyori finished fashioning himself in his clothes that he’d left behind in what was meant to be Nagisa’s room, but even when they first moved in, it was never empty at night. Then, Hiyori was gone, and Nagisa had to grow used to the cold. His childhood friend turned his head and offered him the signature loving smile that brought Nagisa the joy of life from the first time he saw it. Then, just as suddenly, he left the room, leaving Nagisa with all the cruelties of life to deal with on his own. Only, now he’d come to accept that there was no one to blame for making him feel this way, not even that boy.

Alone once again, Nagisa contemplated how used he’d grown to this. It wasn’t like they hadn’t spent time apart before, but it always felt so brief. Perhaps it was because back in the days when he was without Hiyori’s light, he had no one to try and fill his void. Instead of that this time though, he had a liege, someone to serve and honor. In return, he found that person only needing his strength and not much more—anything else was considered inappropriate.

Nagisa swung his legs over the side of his bed, watching how the bedsheets clung to his skin. Normally, they wouldn’t do such a thing, but in this case where his body was so heated up, the stickiness of sweat acted a bit like glue. Nagisa brushed the fabric away, leaving him to brace the cold of his room without protection as he’d been doing for the past half a year. He stood up, stretched, and pondered if it was worth dressing in his uniform today or something more casual like Hiyori chose. Then, he recalled that Ibara wanted to have a meeting today, so nothing less than his Rozerian best would do.

Undergarments and pants equipped with a belt around his waist, Nagisa felt his eyes drawn to an object he’d left on his desk as fabric covered his arms. He quietly approached the area where he’d placed the items he’d retrieved from his expedition yesterday and picked up a small green gem that reminded him of his beloved. How ironic it was then that, when holding it up to the light of the great hall yesterday, he saw the silhouette of that who his beloved had gone to look after.

Amber eyes with a raised brow. Soft, fluffy looking tufts of blue hair, matched with a pair of ears that were slightly round at the tip. Black claws that left a mark in the wood with how tightly they were grasping the banister. Mouth agape, just enough to reveal canines big enough to cut through flesh. And then, after looking away for just a moment, the animal was gone.

Nagisa lowered his chin and placed the gem down, closing his eyes in contemplation. How strange that just one glance at the person who had stabbed his heart with the curse of jealousy could alleviate all pain from said wound. Though fierce in appearance, there was something about the way the boy’s eyes shimmered that seemed off for the animosity Nagisa was expecting in return. He didn’t even really know how to describe it; at least not until they were introduced properly. It was only then that he could see what was reflected in those dark yellow eyes that stole away any malice he could have for the boy. Namely, it was himself. Himself, standing before the paladin, unused to talking and being displayed like a prize that had been won, all the while Hiyori was giving him the strength needed to live for himself.

And who was Nagisa to take away the sun from a mirror so desperate for it?

Nagisa finished clothing himself in the silence of his thoughts, left to wonder what he could have done differently the previous day. Hiyori was late to arrive last night before bed, should he have suggested that he stay with who he had likely just left instead of playing ignorant? Or would it have been better to focus on reassuring the boy he understood there was no harm done in making the harmless mistake of mixing up names?

He didn’t know. He was completely unsure of what to do about the situation he found himself in. Everything about the way Hiyori wrote about Jun told him everything  _ but _ what he was really like, mostly focusing on his appearance and talents. In fact, what he did say about him as a person was mostly complaints. Complaints, and then assertions that he’d correct those things flaws with his love. Love that once saved Nagisa, love that gave him eyes to see the good of life and humanity. Love that could make him accept even someone who threatened to bring him an insurmountable amount of grief.

Nagisa exited his room, adjusting the cape over his left shoulder and then adjusted a button that had gotten loose in his haste to exit. He paced his breathing, staying still a moment longer in order to do. It wouldn’t do any good to arrive at his meeting in the state he was currently in. Just as well, he was sure Ibara’s focus on their plan would take precedent above all else. If he wanted to be useful to that child, he shouldn’t enter their meeting distracted.

Going up the steps from the subfloor of the palace up to the main level, he entered into the garden terrace that had a table already set with tea and a game of chess. Along with that, he could spy the red headed boy whose scent sent a familiar tingle down Nagisa’s spine. Sitting with legs crossed and arms folded over his chest, even someone who had difficulty reading others could tell the emperor was feeling impatient, if not generally frustrated.

“...Ibara,” Nagisa greeted with just a call of the boy’s name. “...I’m sorry. Did I keep you long?”

“Ah, your excellency!” Ibara’s sour expression faded in an instant, replaced with something altogether more artificial. Legs fell straight to the floor as his back straightened, hands falling to the board that was waiting for them with Ibara’s opening already started. “Please, sit down. I actually only arrived a short while ago, and our tea just came, so in short, his excellency is right on time~☆”

“...Mm,” Nagisa pulled out his seat and sat across from Ibara, studying the opening before responding with his own. “...So if my timing is not off, then what is most precedent on your mind today?”

“Ah, am I really wearing my thoughts so loudly?” Ibara scratched his cheek before reaching out for his tea, holding the cup and saucer in each hand and drinking the way Hiyori taught him. “In truth, ever since his highness came back, I’ve been thinking quite intensely about our current state of affairs. I had obviously planned for his highness to return with no meaningful assistance, but just to have him back will be a boon to our troops’ morale. Yet he brought that animal with him as well, and it appears as though his highness is thoroughly distracted by him. Is that not strange to you, your excellency?”

“...Not at all,” Nagisa denied. “...Rather, it’s just like Hiyori-kun to care quite deeply about someone he’s taken responsibility for.”

“Ah, I see,” Ibara sighed. “And what do you make of that, your excellency? Does such behavior disturb you?”

“...That’s a very direct question,” Nagisa furrowed his brow, and was met with a broader smile and widened eyes.

“Ah, I mean that not disrespectfully!” Ibara attempted to save face while at the same time playing his next move. “Rather, I am curious as to whether or not you believe this will cause issues for you and his highness. I’ve never seen you two disagree with one another heavily, and yet last night you chose to scold him quite harshly for such a minor oversight.”

“...Was I being harsh?” Nagisa rubbed his thumb over the back of his other hand before playing his pawn. “...I hadn’t intended to be. Rather, I wasn’t expecting our meeting to end so shortly.” Nagisa let his eyelids fall, and then lowered his head in turn. “...Was I the reason that it went so poorly?”

“I think that it came to a number of factors, actually,” Ibara played on, collecting Nagisa’s last played pawn in silence. “His highness and I were egging the hyena on a little too much I think, and meanwhile it was fairly obvious that he was intimidated by your excellency, so when it came to making not one but two insignificant errors, they must have left him mortified.”

“...He was intimidated?” Nagisa repeated the phrase as he accepted the trade, taking Ibara’s pawn with his bishop and studying the piece in his gloved hand. “...I had no clue. I thought he was merely shy.”

“He was that as well,” Ibara confirmed, “and that only made the entire ordeal all the more difficult. If I had to guess, he’ll do his best to avoid you from now on, and there won’t be much you can do except wait for an opportunity to sit down and talk it out without his highness. When that would be, I can’t say. Nor do I know if your excellency has the means by which to say what it is he feels.”

“...I appreciate your candor, Ibara,” Nagisa sighed, “but it is a bit difficult to hear. Do you truly believe it will be so difficult for such a time to arrive?”

“Quite,” Ibara nodded, “for as long as his highness is determined to be the sun for the both of you, that tension will remain taut.” As he finished his words, Ibara traced a finger around his teacup before picking it up again.

Birds chirped in their perches in the apple trees of the garden, the rose bushes surrounding them blooming beautifully as ever. The sun was shining down in a magnificent display, warming the earth with her rays, and yet Nagisa felt cold. Cold as when he used to live in confinement in this very palace, off in that room Father kept him where none but him could enter. Even when with the very person he had sworn himself to protect, Nagisa couldn’t deny that at that moment he felt entirely alone. The reminder that Hiyori wanted to be with someone else, the fact that Ibara could admit his difficulty in commanding Nagisa on how to resolve the situation they found themselves in, and that boy who stood at the center of it all, having done nothing except be loved. It was hard to manage all the pieces at once, and Nagisa found himself growing lost the further into their game as they went.

“...So that’s why you commanded that army there,” Nagisa remarked at not just the move on the board, but in the strategy Ibara had to tell about their conquest.

“Yes,” Ibara nodded, “my rated most likely best case scenario was that his highness would arrive with more useful talent at his disposal or at least numbers. However, as time went on, that likeliness dwindled. To see him arrive with one warrior who is barely able to keep his emotions together is decidedly  _ not _ what we needed. The best course of action for now is to take advantage of the morale boost and proceed with our plan from before he arrived. Namely, to treat things as though he were not here, and hope the luck advantage of his arrival is enough to increase the effectiveness of our troops’ fighting spirit.”

“...And what of Hiyori-kun himself?” Nagisa asked. Then, quietly, he added, “...And of Jun as well?”

“One can hardly be relied upon to keep focus on a single task,” Ibara explained, “and one is a wildcard I’ve yet to determine the value of. The best is to simply act as though they don’t exist within our plans. I might send them off to take care of vagabonds within our secured borders, but they can’t be relied upon for much beyond that.”

“...You did not take just me on to be your paladin, Ibara,” Nagisa reminded. “...Hiyori-kun is still capable. Why would you restrict him in such a way?”

“It’s not a matter of restriction,” Ibara answered, “it’s a matter of precaution. How am I supposed to command someone who has already expressed displeasure in being commanded? His highness is best used as a face and nothing more. His charge will also likely find it easier to serve as an image for Rozerian tolerance rather than defend a country he has no allegiance to. I do this not to discredit either’s ability, but to best take in account each of their mentalities as I know them. Until I have studied them each more intensely, this is our best strategy. Oh, and checkmate.”

Nagisa’s eyes were drawn back down to the board, letting his shoulders drop. He hadn’t been paying attention to this game much at all, and he couldn’t care less about the loss overall. No, he was more concerned for his childhood friend. What would happen now?

“...Is there a possibility that I will one day be sent out to command the front,” Nagisa inquired, “and Hiyori-kun will still be here?”

“Yes,” Ibara confirmed, resetting the board one piece at a time, “there is a distinct possibility of such a future happening soon, in fact.”

Nagisa stared ahead at the boy who calculated everything precisely to his vision, and would take nothing short of perfection in execution. He wished he knew what to say. He wished he had some sort of rebuttal, some sort of explanation or alternative, but all he had was wishful thinking. If he wasn’t already outside, he would have excused himself with a need for fresh air to regain his thoughts, but instead he watched as delicately gloved fingers presented the red pieces on Nagisa’s side.

“Shall we play again, your excellency?” Ibara inquired. “I understand if you were just warming up, it’s been quite an exciting twenty-four hours, hasn’t it? It is unusual for a mind as brilliant as yours to lose so easily to my hand. I’m sure if you put your concentration into it, you’ll see me crumble within moments!”

“...I have no wish to defeat you, Ibara,” Nagisa murmured. “...I wish there was some way I could convince you of why I dislike this plan of yours, but I don’t have anything to say. I think I’m going to go back to my room, I have some stones I need to finish polishing.”

“Ah, if his excellency so desires, then I won’t restrain you,” Ibara stood and offered a salute before quickly dropping it, the habit seemingly difficult to break even after all this time. “We can discuss matters more later if you should so desire, but I would encourage you to accept the reality we face. This is war we’re in, there’s little time for us to worry about those who choose themselves over their empire.”

Nagisa got up from his seat and took a step away from the table, sparing the redhead one last glance before turning his attention to the staircase he would descend. Suddenly, he paused, and after a moment, he found himself waiting. He’d caught onto something, a feeling. Then, footsteps. Footsteps ringing loudly, chasing toward them. A green head popped into view, running up those steps and into the garden terrace with purple eyes scanning the area in vain. The figure dropped the dog it carried in its arms, gripping their knees and breathing hard. While the dog made its way over towards Ibara, Nagisa walked towards the man, hand stretched out.

“...Hiyori-kun,” he called, “what’s the matter? Why are you in distress?”

Hiyori lifted his head, and as if on cue, tears began to spill from his eyes. Then, Hiyori reached out for Nagisa, who accepted him into his arms with ease. He stroked his gloved hand through green locks, letting Hiyori sob into his chest and waiting patiently for the man to speak.

“Oh, Nagisa-kun,” Hiyori managed to get out between sniffles and hiccups. “I-I don’t know...I don’t know where he is. I don’t know where Jun-kun’s gone, he’s missing.”

“...Missing?” Nagisa’s grip on Hiyori’s shoulders instinctively tightened, feeling the man’s trembles slow. “...Where did you last see him?”

“Last night,” Hiyori answered, curling up into Nagisa’s chest easily, “right before bed. I went to pick up Bloody Mary and thought he would be in the room waiting for me, but his bed was just a mess of feathers. He’d torn up everything, the pillows, the comforter, even the sheets and bed! Mary was alright of course, her area of the bed remained pure and untouched. I know he would never hurt her, so I don’t know why he would do that to his own belongings.”

“...They just became his,” Nagisa reasoned, “I’m sure he hardly knows that they would count as such.”

“Ah...That’s true,” Hiyori rubbed his thumbs across Nagisa’s shoulders as he held on, “you were similar in that regard when you were young. Hm, is that what you’re getting at?”

“...Yes,” Nagisa nodded, “I don’t think he’s left at all. Rather, he’s likely gone into hiding.”

“Just like how you used to wander off,” Hiyori connected, “that makes sense. Jun-kun has a horribly difficult time in connecting with others. Only, I have the distinct feeling that he did so intentionally rather than getting lost like you.” Hiyori huffed, the tears at the corners of his eyes drying in an instant. “That boy, he’s so troublesome. Why would he make me worry like this?”

“...I don’t know,” Nagisa comforted as he rubbed his hand against Hiyori’s back. “...However, I’m certain we will find him. Why don’t you take a break for a moment? Then, when you’ve recollected yourself, I’m sure you’ll find him. I will as well ask around if anyone has seen him.”

“Ha...Hm~” Hiyori’s face lit up as he squeezed Nagisa close. “When did you start looking after me? You really have grown up quite a bit, haven’t you?”

“Huh,” Ibara’s voice approached in the loud fashion it usually did, “what a conundrum to find oneself in. I’ve certainly had to handle his excellency running off on me, so I’m certain I understand how his highness feels in this case. Would you like to wind down with a game of chess? I’ll have the servants fetch you your favorite green tea as well.”

Hiyori popped his head over Nagisa’s shoulder as Nagisa turned his own head as well. Ibara held Bloody Mary in his arms, who was resting quite peacefully within them as he stroked her head. Hiyori hardened his lip and released Nagisa, stepping around and placing his hands on his hips as he asserted his natural height over the emperor in heels.

“I’m not sitting down for long, vi—Ibara-kun,” Hiyori excused himself with a clear of his throat. “However, tea will be appreciated at this time. If our chess game ends with no determined winner, assume I’ve won.”

“Yes, your highness!” Ibara attempted to lift his hand, only found it stopped as Mary gently bit his sleeve. “Ah, what curious behavior? Nonetheless, I understand, your highness. Even if you’ve never beaten me at the game before, I’m certain you would win this one in startling fashion! Shall we begin?”

“You really give the worst weather,” Hiyori huffed as they walked off towards the table Nagisa had left.

The two went on like that, Hiyori chiding Ibara for his behavior while Ibara did his best to appease the paladin. A complete reversal of how it should have been, and yet Nagisa couldn’t have imagined their relationship to be any different. Both of them were very commanding personalities, born to please, and it only made sense that Hiyori would use his role as a big brother to appropriately instruct the young emperor. He wondered why it was then that Nagisa rarely saw them like this. He could only count on his hand the few times Hiyori willingly stayed in the same room as Ibara, including the times he was called in for a performance review. Those reviews which unsettled Hiyori greatly, and probably attributed to his departure. Nagisa contemplated the conversation he’d had with the emperor, and as Ibara set Bloody Mary in his lap, he wondered if she was there as protection so he could discuss his plans for Hiyori’s future.

Nagisa balled his hands into fists and turned away from the scene, knowing Hiyori would likely ask about it later that night. He couldn’t lie to him about his knowledge, and in truth, he couldn’t deny Ibara’s reasons either, no matter how much he wished to reject them. It would simply be another thing between them; another thing to pull them apart.

But what distanced them could never defeat what brought them together. Nagisa believed that more than anything—he had to. It was all he had left. Titles and his position meant nothing if he and Hiyori weren’t together like they promised. Even if they were worlds apart, even if only he fought on the front, it was alright so long as they could come home to each other. Ibara had provided that home, so the child that Hiyori brought back was no different in that regard. In fact, his presence could relieve some of the concerns Nagisa had, right? Someone who could be there in return for Hiyori, a partner.

It still hurt. Nagisa clutched his chest and leaned on a nearby wall, the stone cold and the hall he was trapped in completely empty. But what hurt the most was the idea that Hiyori had somehow outgrown him. The idea he couldn’t make the person who brought him to life happy the same way anymore, it hurt worse than anything that boy could do. Nagisa didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to deal with these negative thoughts about the person who tried so hard to teach him the meaning of love. Love was unselfish and kind, full of consideration for another’s feelings over one’s own.

Nagisa released the bunched up fabric and pressed on. His next destination was the front of the castle, and then he’d make his way to the rear. Surely someone had seen that boy, and when he’d narrow down the places he could be hiding, Nagisa would go and retrieve Hiyori so they could find him together.

🌕

Twilight graced the sky in shades of magenta and lilac, and yet the blue hyena was nowhere to be seen. Not a single guard had seen him pass, nor had they any clue of where he went. Not even the maids who went to clean his room up had a single idea of his whereabouts, except for one who entered the room first. She mentioned that she found the window open when she first entered, even before Hiyori had gotten there. Apparently, she’d closed it, and Nagisa’s concerns had only grown. The palace was high above the ground, some of it even floating thanks to the architectural ingenuity of those who designed it. The fall to the ground was long, but scouts reported no stories of someone having fallen from the area above where the window was located, much less the entire proximity of the structure. It was a perplexing puzzle, so Nagisa went to investigate the room himself.

From Hiyori’s description, Nagisa was a little surprised at just how effectively the staff had cleaned the room up. It appeared as though the mattress had been mended, a new comforter and bed sheets placed down, as well as some new pillows, albeit a harder variety than the soft satin most in the palace were accustomed to. It was a type of pillow given to prisoners, stuffed with cotton and made of a thread that was hard to pierce or pick the thread apart. Judging by the size of those claws however, Nagisa hardly thought it would matter much. Still, he understood the reasoning behind the staff’s decision, as he couldn’t even begin to imagine how tedious it must have been to tidy up.

Curtains drawn off on the window nearest the bed, Nagisa observed the way the setting sun’s light died behind the city’s horizon, replaced instead with the twinkle of stars and the full moon glimmering low in the sky. He walked towards it and, unlocking the latch, threw it open. High winds blew in instantly, then just as quickly settled, but not without throwing the loose strands of hair around Nagisa’s shoulders back. He put them back into place and approached the window, his eyes entranced with the sight of the starry sky as it began to sparkle to life. Beautiful now, just as it was then, the first time he was allowed outside of the room he was kept in, all so that guest of Father’s could show him the night sky.

“...Father,” Nagisa called the long deceased figure’s name as he grasped the windowsill, gazing out into the bright night sky. “...Is the place you’re in now better than this hell? Or are you full of regret in being unable to make this one paradise?”

Nagisa spoke to Father rarely. Not just when he was alive, but especially now when the former doll could not see him. All he could do was believe that Father was there, in Heaven. Nagisa extended his hand out towards the night sky, just like how  _ that _ man did, and watched as the stars in the sky only grew in number. Incalculable, yet shining brilliantly all together.

“Ugh...Uh...? Ohii-san?” Nagisa heard the soft, low voice just barely over the winds, and his heart seemed to stop. Slowly, he retreated his hand as he planned to turn around and see where the voice was coming from. “W-Wait!! Ohii-san, I’m out here! It’s a long story but—“ Nagisa changed plans in an instant and pushed his head out through the window, trying to follow where the voice was guiding him. He turned his head to the right and was greeted with a precarious sight. The hyena boy he’d spent the better part of the day searching was outside on a perch next to the window, separated only by a small column. He watched as the boy’s smile faded into something altogether meek, his dark complexion growing pale. “You’re not...Ohii-san...”

Then, the hyena staggered. He was kneeling on the perch, and a high wind braced the boy’s bare shoulder. Nagisa watched in horror as the creature wavered, and he couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. The boy’s arm flailed, and Nagisa took hold of his hand within his own. It brought back some semblance of balance for the one in a difficult spot, yet all the same Nagisa could feel how reluctant the boy was to grip his hand back.

“...Are you alright?” Nagisa thought to ask, unsure of what to do in this situation. The hyena lowered his head, ears flat on the back of his head and tail straight between his legs.

“No,” Jun answered eventually, pushing his forehead against the column. “Shit...I just came out here for a change of pace without having to see anyone and then the window closed...”

That explained everything perfectly. How long ago was that now? The boy’s hand felt cold, colder than even Nagisa could be. Surely that wasn’t normal. If he had the strength to leap over there once, he likely didn’t have that same ability now. Nagisa contemplated the situation, then held the boy’s hand tightly within his own. He was holding onto the hyena with his right hand, his dominant. He could easily bring him back in, if only the boy would let go. However, convincing the boy of that was easier said than done.

“...Will you let me help you bring you back inside?” Nagisa asked anyway, watching as the boy struggled to meet his eyes again.

“I...” The hyena braced tightly to the wall once more. “How do you plan to do that...?”

“...You need to let go of that wall,” Nagisa explained, and he watched how those amber eyes widened in horror, as though the boy had been asked to throw himself off. “...Hold onto me, instead. Don’t let go.”

Nagisa wasn’t about to use his commander voice, the one Ibara had trained him to use with the troops. This wasn’t the type of person he  _ should _ use it on in general. The boy wasn’t that much shorter than him, and in fact he was probably even a little taller than Ibara. Yet Nagisa couldn’t help but feel as though the hyena was small, small and fragile, like he could break easily. The description was the same as himself back then, a porcelain doll taken in by the Tomoes, who attempted to forbid their youngest from playing with the emperor’s toy. This hyena was the same, wasn’t he?

The boy’s grip on the stone column fell, reaching out quickly and grabbing onto Nagisa’s forearm with a tight grip. His eyes shut entirely, teeth gritted as his lips shivered. Nagisa had to move fast, lest the boy change his mind altogether. Forgoing a count, Nagisa pulled. The hyena let out a shriek, one lost to the wind as he was dragged closer. As soon as he was able to, Nagisa wrapped his other arm around the hyena’s waist, securing him in the paladin’s arms. In turn, the hyena reached out with the hand that was once on Nagisa’s arm all the way over to his other shoulder. Soon enough, the boy was squatting atop the windowsill, toes curling around the thin surface as his head buried itself in Nagisa’s chest.

The adrenaline rush subsided, leaving the two breathing hard against one another. The hand around Jun’s waist slipped up, rubbing the boy’s back through the thin fabric he wore around his upper torso. Then, a sob erupted from the hyena, one that was quickly swallowed back. Nagisa’s right hand, holding onto Jun’s left, found the grip was just as strong now as when the boy was holding on for dear life. Slowly, Nagisa pulled the boy into the room further, legs falling to the floor and landing limply on the balls of his feet.

The moon outside had risen above, its yellow light faded for something closer to white. As Nagisa lowered his chin, he watched as Jun’s face came into view, the yellow of the moon from earlier still within the boy’s eyes. The boy’s ears were still flat on his head, but he wasn’t moving away. It was as though time stopped altogether, leaving them trapped in the darkness of the room with only the light of the night sky while holding onto one another. Yet all the same, the situation felt oddly...comforting.

Jun sniffed, then lowered his head quickly as he sneezed onto Nagisa’s chest. He let out a whimper, and Nagisa could feel just how much worse the hyena was shivering. Nagisa quickly spun them and pushed Jun down onto the bed. He then proceeded to shut the windows, closing the latch and drawing the shades slightly shut. When he turned back, Jun had curled up onto the bed and was reaching for the comforter. Nagisa helped him, pulling the comforter back and seating the boy on the bed itself before cocooning the hyena within the plush surface. Jun sneezed again, and this time he was unable to hold back a tear from rolling down his cheek.

“I-I’m sorry,” Jun whispered. “I didn’t mean to...Shit...”

“...It’s okay,” Nagisa reassured, brushing back the boy’s bangs with his hand. Jun wouldn’t lift his eyes to meet Nagisa, but at least now the hair was out of his face.

This was difficult. Nagisa was completely unsure of what to do in this situation. When he’d first met Ibara, he thought he’d have an opportunity to care for someone, but found himself being the one looked after once again. Now there was Jun after all this time, Hiyori’s charge and untrusting from the start. Nagisa was unsure if he was the same at this age, as he had difficulty recalling memories in general, but especially back then. How frustrating; he couldn’t even rely upon his feelings to guide him on the best way to empathize with this boy.

All that he could do now was take care of one thing at a time. He let his hand holding the bangs up fall through the rest of Jun’s hair, standing up straight as he retreated his arms back to his sides. Surely there wasn’t anything he could say to mend the situation, so perhaps it was for the best to simply leave it at that.

“...I’m going to go out and retrieve you something to eat,” Nagisa stated. “...You must be starving after having spent that long out there.” No response, but Nagisa was expecting that. “...I’ll go and retrieve Hiyori-kun straight-away after.”

Nagisa stepped around the bed, and then proceeded towards the door. His hand placed itself on the handle, but just as it started the turn, the boy cried out in a hoarse voice:

“Wait...!”

Nagisa let go and turned back, seeing how the boy had curled further up. Fighting back sobs as hard as he could, the hyena lifted his head and stared at the moon through the partially open window.

“I...I’m sorry,” Jun spoke again.

“...You’ve said that,” Nagisa remarked. “...It’s not necessary, you’ve made mistakes, but I would rather you be safe than in danger.”

“Why?”

The question startled Nagisa, enough to stun him into silence. The boy spoke again.

“Why would you...Why are you tryin’ so hard to make sure I’m okay? Aren’t I jus’ gettin’ in between you and Ohii-san?”

Nagisa was still, and then shortly, he found himself standing in front of the hyena once more. He was still unable to lift his eyes to meet Nagisa, but his head was raised. The paladin sat himself next to Jun on the bed, placing his hands at either side of himself and looking out the window, out of the narrow view that could be seen of the industrious capital city.

“...Is that your concern?” Nagisa asked to clarify, and the boy nodded curtly. “...I see. Do you know the story of how we met?” Jun nodded again. “...Good, that makes things a little easier. I struggle to properly explain myself to others. It’s a problem I’ve had from the moment I was taught to live as my own person. To know who I am is uninteresting to me, I would rather understand others. Hiyori-kun was the one who taught me how to see the true vibrancy of this world, and the one who gave me the light of the sun. I want for us to be together always. That’s how I feel about Hiyori-kun.”

“I kinda figured that,” Jun spoke after a little while. The pause afterwards was filled with nothing but the sound of their breathing, and Nagisa tasked himself with doing what felt right.

“...Hiyori-kun is a person who embodies love,” Nagisa continued, “enough to the point that he could even bring someone like me, who only knew darkness, into the light. But even though we’re equals, he had been treated differently by our emperor who we swore ourselves to. The emperor finds it easier to command me, and so I was given more opportunities. In return, I attempted to grow closer to the emperor, the one who took my Father’s throne. I think that in doing so, Hiyori-kun saw me as being ungrateful. I can’t say for certain it’s the reason, but when I had learned of his departure, it was when I had come back from a mission. Hiyori-kun has always hated goodbyes, so doubtlessly, he didn’t want to see me before he left.”

“What...?” Jun turned his chin finally to look towards Nagisa, only to look away when the paladin moved in the same way. “I...I didn’t know he did that. He really didn’t tell me a whole lot about who he was, actually. I only knew he was a paladin cuz it was kinda obvious, an’ anythin’ I learned about you came from his letters and the story about when you first met. He talked about it like it was some kinda fairytale.”

“...That makes sense,” Nagisa murmured. “...Fairytales have always existed in history as means to explain its past, present, and destiny in ways that are simple and easy to comprehend. He wanted to make it easier for you to understand me, because I have difficulty in expressing myself properly.”

“You think that’s why?” Jun raised a brow.

“I know it,” Nagisa corrected, placing a hand over his heart. “Rather, his intentions speak clearly to me. I’ve known him for so long, and even if he says difficult things, I know his heart as well as my own. We’re connected together like that, bound by the promise we made as children.”

Nagisa lowered his hands down to his lap, staring at them and feeling a familiar heaviness set in. He closed his eyes and then opened them slowly, entranced by the lines in the floor.

“...He’s made a promise to you as well, hasn’t he?” Nagisa asked.

“I doubt it compares,” Jun muttered.

“...There is no ranking for something like that,” Nagisa rebutted gently. “...Hiyori-kun loves without end. To deny him of what he loves is not something I can do. And, just as well, I don’t want to deprive anyone else of their sunlight, least of all you.”

“Least of all me...?” Jun repeated. “Why?”

“...Perhaps it’s not that strange at all,” Nagisa lifted his head back towards the moon, “but it certainly did surprise me when I realized how much of myself I saw in you. Not from Hiyori-kun’s letters, but when I saw you yesterday. You were small, in a world alien to you, and all you had was Hiyori-kun to guide your hand. You could barely speak, and you were struggling desperately to be understood even when you had so little knowledge about who you were even speaking to. That was why I chided Hiyori-kun, I couldn’t understand why he would have left you struggling like that. However, I made a mistake too. I should have focused on reassuring you, on telling you there was no harm done. I needed to make you understand me just as you were trying so hard to explain yourself. I’m sorry for that.”

Nagisa turned to look at Jun, only to find the boy looking back. Their eyes finally met, and this time they didn’t break. The hyena’s jaw hung open, brows raised high. Nagisa spotted the incisors in the boy’s mouth, sturdy and sharp, just like a cat’s; adorable.

“Um...” Jun snapped his jaw shut and swallowed, his eyes still wide. “You don’t gotta apologize to me. I made a mistake an’ started feelin’ tired. It was a long journey after all.” Jun lowered his gaze briefly before letting it return. “And I...I didn’t want to take anythin’ from both you or Ohii-san either. It’s funny, I wasn’t expectin’ to find anyone I had somethin’ in common with, but I guess it makes sense if Ohii-san was drawn to us the same way, we’d have somethin’ to relate to each other about.”

“...Fufu,” Nagisa chuckled and let his hands fall onto the bed, leaning back slightly. “...That’s unusual for me. Relating to someone, that is. But it relieves me quite a bit, so I’m happy you feel the same.”

“Yeah,” Jun curled up in his blanket cocoon a little more, but not to hide himself as before. Instead he did it to rest his arms on his knees, and then his cheek on his arms, his round face squishing against it as he did so. “I wasn’t really expectin’ you to treat me with so much consideration, or for you to be the one to save me from that ledge earlier. So for those two reasons, thank you, erm...Nagi-sama.”

“...Hm, that’s a new one,” Nagisa noted the nickname as the corner of his lips turned up. “...I’m not sure how I feel about that one. It’s my name, but a title has been attached to it. But also, it sounds cute.”

“Eh?” Jun turned his chin up a bit. “I wasn’t—Er, I’m tryin’ to be respectful while addressin’ you. I’ve had good manners ingrained in me for awhile, even before I met Ohii-san, so I can’t imagine sayin’ just your name, it’s weird~”

“...Alright,” Nagisa conceded, “I understand. That’s similar to Ibara’s reasons for addressing Hiyori-kun and I as his superiors, even if he’s the one in the role above our own. However, I don’t want to see Jun as being beneath me, so I’ll work with Hiyori-kun in uplifting you properly.”

“Aha,” Jun let out a shy chuckle and shook his head a bit. “You don’t really have to go that far, Nagi-sama.”

Nagisa was going to explain himself. Nagisa was going to explain his promise with Hiyori. Nagisa was going to ask if he could sit a little closer, and if he could pet the hyena’s hair. Nagisa was caught in the middle of his thoughts, eager to get to know Jun better, when  _ it _ happened. The window flew open. The latch went loose without a fight, and night turned to day with a brilliant light filling the sky. 

A voice entered Nagisa’s mind. A voice he hadn’t heard in a very, very long time.

**_”It’s time, Nagisa. Come join me here, it is time for you to fulfill your destiny.”_ **

The blinding light that drowned the world with its majesty slowly began to fade. It faded, but it did not disappear. Instead, it condensed itself to a large star that hung in the sky, off in the distance. It was a large star, not as large as the moon in the sky, but it was still eerily visible. It was low, as well, and shone a bright orange color, like the early morning sun. Night had returned, but with that shining bright spot off on the horizon, how was Nagisa supposed to sleep at all anymore?

“...Father,” he choked out the name and stood up, rushing to the windowsill and reaching towards that far off celestial body. “...Father, I heard you. What would you have me do?”

No answer. No response at all. The silence deafened the wind, and in truth, Nagisa already knew what his mission was. He was just terrified of doing it.

“...I have to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eheheh...this one was fun to write. back to jun pov next, thanks for reading!


	4. The Emperor's Treasure

Bread, apple, and water. Just those three things were a feast to Jun at that moment, no matter their quantity. He was famished enough to consider the meal plentiful after having spent the majority of the day trapped out on a ledge next to the window of his bedroom. The memory of such was likely to never leave his mind for a very long time, nor was the clench of his chest at recalling something so embarrassing. As Jun pushed the bread down his throat, he was grateful that his hunger was at least a stronger force than his shame that might have ruined his already fragile appetite.

Thinking back on things further, Jun reflected on how little he’d had to eat from the moment he entered the castle with Hiyori. A strange world—a  _ strict _ world with an even stricter etiquette. A hyena like him was out of place, and the only reason why he was allowed in the kitchens at all that moment was because the status quo had been so entirely shifted from the sky shaking event earlier. Thinking back on that was enough to finally halt Jun’s chewing, feeling the apple in his mouth turn to a disgusting mush as he recalled the moment.

He and Nagisa had been sitting only a few centimeters apart on his bed, their eyes struggling to meet each other properly. They managed anyway, and Jun began to feel as though he was starting to understand the person Hiyori had said saved him. Nagisa, shining and brilliant as the moon rising into the sky, had his image erased before Jun’s very eyes as he was blinded by the light of heaven. A heaven Jun had wanted nothing to do with, and less desire to hear from anyone he knew was there. Nevertheless, he was forced to hear the words of a worthless father grovel in his ear.

**_Jun. My son, I tried so hard to build a brighter future for the both of us, but it was not enough. I’m sorry._ **

As if those words were supposed to make Jun feel any better about what happened. As if that pathetic attempt at an apology was supposed to excuse everything Jun had to experience from the very moment of his birth. There was more to his life than just that final downfall, and his father took no responsibility for any of it. Just his own loss, the one that cost him his life. It was typical of him, and Jun was angrier at the fact that he only had confirmation for his assumption rather than anything else. No, his father didn’t speak to him for any other reason than to help resolve whatever guilt he had at his downfall, that was all it was. Jun was the one forced to live on the scraps, chugging down the water he’d gotten without a care for how it would settle in his stomach later.

Dusk had fallen on the empire, and yet it had never seemed so vibrant. Whispers carried through the burgundy halls speaking to one another about the family and loved ones they each got to hear from in the brief window of time. Some were relieved. Others were panicked. Then there were those that were confused—the ones who heard from no one and hadn’t a clue what everyone was talking about. Those were the people Jun envied the most.

Pushing his cup into a bucket full of other discarded dishes, Jun stretched his arms across the counter he’d been resting against and buried his forehead into the wooden surface. Feeling had fully returned to his fingertips, and his head was clear, but his body felt like absolute garbage. Hiyori had bragged so much about the beds at the palace, how soft and plush they were with fresh linen every night, and yet he hadn’t had a single night’s rest yet since he got here that made him feel any better when he woke up. Not even the night he fell asleep after complete and utter exhaustion could be counted, considering that awful nightmare he had. The one where he destroyed something precious. The one where he tore up the pillow he was hugging. He had it again the next night and it was even worse.

“Hey...You think he’s asleep?”

The whisper came from a distant but nearby place; not from his left or right, but from beneath him. Jun’s ears twitched as he followed its trail, but could not pinpoint exactly where it was. He let his ears go flat, forcing them to stay down despite his instincts. Then, the inquisitive voice spoke again, and this time, it multiplied.

“You dummy,” one of the voices berated, “obviously someone wouldn’t fall asleep just like that. Be patient, will you?”

“Hey~ what are you doing scolding me like that?” The other whined, going well above the octave of a whisper before retreating back into it as he was hushed. “I’m soooorry~ I don’t know if he doesn’t fall asleep like that! He’s from a different country, right? What if they have different customs?”

“No matter where you go, no matter where you stay, humans all fall asleep the same way,” the chiding voice replied.

“But he’s not a human, he’s a hyena,” the enthusiastic voice returned. “Unless you mean to say even doppelgängers like us are human too, that is.”

“...Of course we are,” the sterner voice grew soft, and then silence followed.

There was the shifting of footsteps that tried to move silently, but Jun tracked them expertly even with his ears folded. They  _ were _ beneath him. Muffled behind a wall, he could hear the sound of stone scraping against stone, and eventually, the footsteps resumed, louder this time. The door swung open—

“Wah! He’s gone!!”

“Shh, he could still be here, we just have to get what we came in here for and get out.”

“R-Right...”

Jun watched from inside the precipice he’d found above the cabinets of the kitchen, blending in with the shadows. The strange pair who entered the kitchen didn’t suspect a thing, and Jun was able to observe them from his careful perch. They were identical in every way, or at least it seemed that way. Same hair, height, voice, even the same face. The only way Jun could distinguish the two was by the choice in dress. Though the outfits were just as similar, using the same shape and color, one wore more blue while one wore more pink. Speaking of, their choice of fashion was incredibly flamboyant. Puffy legged shorts with white tights beneath, pointed shoes with an argyle pattern that matched that of their shorts, the back of their jackets, and the double pointed caps on top of their heads. The fronts of the jacket were solid colors, save for the folds which had the same argyle print. All in all, they were incredibly difficult to look at and Jun considered if he actually wanted to confront them at all.

“Uuu, I wonder where he went...?” The pink twin mused, scratching his chin.

“He’s a guest of a paladin,” the blue twin sighed, fishing through the pantry Jun had dug through earlier. “He’s probably back to that person’s side. We’re going to have to be careful around both of them you know, aniki.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the pink one mirrored the same sigh and languidly wrapped his arms around the one who shared his face. “The emperor expects so much of us these days. I’m grateful for the opportunities he’s given us, but keeping an eye on those two seems kinda scary.”

“We were never formally trained as spies,” the blue one continued as he broke a piece of bread between them. “We’ll just have to move cautiously. They’re certainly different than all those noblemen who we could just dance in front of and they wouldn’t catch onto our act.”

“Mm, does that mean we should request a uniform change?” The pink twin tugged at the large pink bow around his neck. “I mean, we get around here as it is by posing as jesters. And while these outfits are cute, I wonder if we’ll be able to break through that stone face on the hyena.”

“We somehow did it with Ran-sama,” the blue one encouraged, a warm smile forming on his face for the first time that discussion. “I’m sure we’ll earn their trust soon enough. It’s the emperor’s tactic, remember? Play the clown until the walls come down. We just gotta stick to it, and with him we haven’t even started yet!”

“Mm, you’re right, Yuuta,” the pink twin beamed with a bright smile, taking a bite of the bread he was offered. “We’ll get to know aaaaaall their secrets soon enough~”

“Which ones are you interested in?”

Jun, tired of where the conversation was going, stood behind the identical jesters and spoke in a regular voice. In return, he was greeted with a shriek as well as the sight of the pink one jumping into the blue one’s arms. Jun folded his own arms in front of chest, leaning his shoulder against a cabinet. His tail swished behind him impatiently, and both of the boys’ eyes were drawn to it.

“U-Um,” the blue jester stumbled, and then eventually pushed his brother off. The two confided in whispers of what they should do, likely not realizing how good Jun’s hearing was. By the time they turned around, their expressions had changed entirely into something more jovial. Nervous, by the set of their brow, but a well-fitted mask all the same.

“Haha, hello, hello, kind stranger to our kingdom!” The pink greeted with a flashy wave of his hand. Green eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint, while his brother’s of more concern. Despite their differences, they wore the same smile on perfectly identical faces. “I’m hardly of any interest at all, actually! I—“ the pink jester nudged the blue one, causing him to grunt in pain before assuming a silly smile that matched the former. “I am Hinata Aoi, this palace’s head jester. This illusion you see before you is just one of my many tricks, my doppelgänger! We perform astounding acrobatics, would you like a taste of what we have to show?”

Jun blinked, having no response to the strange pair of twins before him. Twins? Doppelgängers? No, they acted too differently to truly be just one human and a soulless puppet. Besides, Jun had never heard of a doppelgänger that could lead a conversation. Nor one that bore a name.

“Mm,” Jun stiffened his shoulder and sighed before kicking his feet back. “Well, if you say so, Yuuta.”

The blue one’s face widened in an exaggerated fashion, his once fluid looking pose going rigid. Then, he fell forward in defeat, prostrating on his hands and knees.

“Please!” He cried out with head lowered to the floor. “Please don’t tell anyone about this. It’s been kept a secret for this long, we can’t have it blown now!”

“Ah...” The pink one—Hinata—followed suit, joining his twin on the floor, although he kept his head raised. “I dunno how much you must’ve heard if you were in here all along, but I promise we’re not trying to cause any harm! The emperor, he only asks us to get what little info we can from the people who visit the palace, he didn’t specify anything he needed from you, honest!”

“I’m sure he didn’t,” Jun rested his arm against the cabinet and his other against his hip, letting out a sigh. “Fine, I won’t tell.” The twins lifted both their heads in delight, a shared expression that shattered the same way as Jun continued. “But—I want to know something. Did either of you hear anything?”

“Hear...What?” Yuuta took his turn to blink now, meanwhile his twin was silent.

“You would know what I’m talking about if you did,” Jun stepped away from the cabinet and walked a few paces forward, squatting down to lower his eye level to about even as the twins. “Did you hear something when that flash of light happened?”

“Oh...No,” Yuuta shook his head again, his brow creasing as he raised them. “I know people have been saying they have but we never heard anything. The world just went blank for a moment before resuming.”

Jun stared between the two twins and noted how tensely Hinata stared at the floor while his brother spoke. If there were secrets being kept between brothers, it wasn’t Jun’s place to interfere, so he let it be and stood up with a stretch of his arms behind his back.

“Then I have nothing more to ask,” Jun announced. “Oh, but I’ll give you some advice. Ohii-san—that is, the paladin Hiyori Tomoe, he’s really touchy. Make sure you prepare to deal with him touching you, dunno if maybe you wanna swap places with who’s supposed to play the puppet and who’s the original. Whoever can best be expected to not break character even when hands are all over them.”

“...You’re helping us?” Hinata finally raised his chin in awe.

“More like you can’t trust that guy to keep his mouth shut,” Jun sighed, standing up and walking towards the exit of the kitchen. “And he’s real perceptive of people too. You’ll find he sees through most acts, so expect him to find out eventually. Make him like you enough to think keeping a secret for once is of benefit to him.”

“That kinda sounds like the emperor,” Yuuta murmured, the twins rising to their feet at the same time. “They’re both kind of flamboyant too, huh.”

“Sure are,” Jun agreed, nearing the exit.

“Hey, hey!” Hinata’s voice called back, Jun turning his head back only slightly. “Thanks, again. If you ever need us to do any sneaking around for you, I promise we’re usually a lot stealthier than we were today!”

“Hm?” Jun shrugged his shoulder and then observed a way a guard down the hallway idly picked his ear. “I’m sure that’s not that difficult here. You’re far from the frontlines, most of the folks here aren’t exactly expecting anyone to be spying on them. Good luck, ‘Hinata Aoi.’”

Raising his hand in a single wave, Jun dismissed himself from the kitchen and headed towards where he expected Hiyori to be. He hadn’t seen the guy all day, and in truth he was still anxious about it. However, he doubted it was much good to leave the guy alone if he was one of those unfortunate enough to hear the voice of a departed soul. That, and he wanted to apologize. Hearing from Nagisa himself, describing Hiyori’s character and trying to explain his behavior, it managed to convince Jun as well to try and see things differently. Maybe there wasn’t a need to worry about any ranking. Maybe it was enough to just feel like he wasn’t alone; how weird it was enough that his technical “rival” was the one who made him feel both such solitude and acceptance at the same time.

The palace was a desolate place at the moment. As Jun had observed earlier, it was as though chaos had enveloped the entire empire as people struggled to comprehend the cosmic miracle that had just taken place. Guards abandoned their posts, and those that remained were either distracted or one of those who heard nothing and were simply annoyed by everyone else. It made Jun’s own movements through the palace and towards the throne room simple. Hardly anyone even paid mind to the fact that there was a hyena afoot, too busy murmuring to one another.

Once arrived at the entrance to the throne room, it was as though most of the guards had vanished. Not a single one stood at the door, making it all too easy for Jun to slip inside. As he did so, however, he realized why there were none out there—they were all buried deep in the chamber, staring at the performance on display at the top of the emperor’s throne. There, a curious scene was taking place. Ibara, the strange snakelike emperor was sitting not on the throne itself but on one of its arms. Hiyori, meanwhile, stood next to it, and at the base of the stairs was Nagisa, staring up at them both. Painted in shades of crimson and gold, the stage could have been mistaken for hell. The audience that had formed around the scene was thick and entranced—not a single person budged even as Jun shut the door behind him.

“Your excellency, I am by no means trying to say I don’t believe you,” Ibara addressed, rubbing his temples with a sigh. “However, there’s far too many things wrong with this plan of yours. For one thing, why now of all times? You should understand most of all how critical our position is in our current strategy. Why risk that for this unknowable supernatural phenomenon?”

“Mm, and it’s not like Ibara can just substitute you for me,” Hiyori stated in a wry tone, sending a harsh glare towards Ibara’s direction. “Our dear little emperor has made that clear. More importantly I’m concerned, Nagisa-kun. Yes, Ibara and I both didn’t hear anything, but we believe what you heard. However, no one else has said anything about their departed one  _ asking _ them to go to that dreary place. What on earth do you think you’ll find there? The em—Your father is dead. And more than that, after all he’s taken from you, what could you possibly receive from him now that would make up for that?”

“...I don’t know,” Nagisa’s deep voice resonated throughout the hall, and Jun felt a shiver go down his spine. Despite the admission of ignorance, he could hear how resolute the paladin was in his speech. “...That’s precisely why I have to find out. Father kept me in the dark for so long, unable to understand his intentions nor his dreams, other than the one he wished for me. If he’s calling me now, it means there  _ was _ more he had to share with me before he left. I need to know what that is.”

Ibara and Hiyori exchanged another glance, all before Hiyori began to descend the stairs. Rather than go all the way, however, he stopped and held out his hand, and somehow it made it seem like he was looking down on Nagisa even more.

“Nagisa-kun, you’ve made more than enough reason for being who you are on your own,” Hiyori attempted to approach the situation from a different angle. “We both have, together. We became the type of strong-willed heroes we dreamed of becoming, haven’t we? You don’t need to see that man, he can’t give you anything you don’t already have.”

“We also have no knowledge of how long that thing will remain, or if it will even be in the same place when you get there. After all, though it appeared first in the Eastern sky, it settled itself in the north, far from here.” Ibara adjusted his glasses as he looked out of a stained glass window towards the bright star that rested in the evening sky off in the distance. “For all we know, your excellency could be chasing a wild goose, only for it to cast itself in fire before you’ve even got your fingers around its neck. And then what will happen? Our frontlines fall back, we waste resources and lives on reclaiming scorched earth all because our greatest weapon abandoned the war effort.”

“...Is that what you think will happen?” Nagisa stepped forward, though not to advance up the stairs. The hair on the back of Jun’s neck stood on end, and the knights around the scene filled the air with their whispers. “...For as long as I’ve known you, Ibara, you’ve been a careful and meticulous strategist. You do not place all your hopes into one dream, you diversify. You can win without me, I do not stand as the only reason you win battles.”

“How do you believe then that our troops come to life when you step onto the field?” Ibara placed both his feet on the ground with a mighty stomp. He then pulled back, took a deep breath, and lifted his head. “Your excellency is a key component to my strategies. The trust our troops have in you surpasses even that of one’s faith in God. I cannot allow them to believe their God has abandoned them to go on a quest towards some unknown entity. It’s not a part of the plan.”

“...You don’t even consider that it could be of help,” Nagisa placed a hand over his chest, and the pleading in his tone tugged at Jun’s own heartstrings. “...If no one else has been called and it is only me, then there’s a chance it’s Father attempting to help us. Can you really deny that possibility? I’ve never known an Ibara whose so rigid he can’t account for taking the advantage when nature provides an unknown element. It isn’t like you to be so stubborn, or to act as though I am the only reason you have made it as far as you have. If I exist only to be a medal of morale, then even a Hiyori-kun who sits with you at the back of the battlefield can fulfill such a role.”

“You could  _ die _ , Nagisa-kun!”

Hiyori’s voice grew hoarse midway through the shout, his trill silencing the hall. Jun watched as Hiyori descended the steps a little further, just enough to grab his childhood friend by his shoulders and force their eyes to meet. Jun knew the tremor he heard in his mentor’s words; he was near tears.

“Don’t you understand?” Hiyori beseeched. “It’s on the top of Mount Fine, the end of the world. No one’s ever come back from ascending its height, even before this star’s descent. More than that, you’re incapable of being on your own without inevitably growing lost, you know this yourself. I beg you, Nagisa-kun, use some sense. This world can’t lose you because of a request from heaven— _ I _ can’t lose you.”

Hiyori threw his arms around Nagisa’s shoulders, enveloping the man in his love. Ibara’s expression, which had been stained by a harshly furrowed brow, softened at the sight, lowering his chin and eventually standing from his place on the arm of the throne. Though he didn’t descend the stairs enough to touch the embracing paladins, he held out his hand in a similar fashion the way Hiyori had previously.

“Your excellency is a magnificent man,” Ibara stated, “one whom I knew I could rely upon from the beginning. You are right on a number of points, and normally I wouldn’t limit your freedom to explore to your heart’s content. However, this campaign of yours, its senseless, even for a man of your caliber. Doubtlessly, you’d attempt to make ground quickly on your own, even if I gifted you a party of troops to join you on this quest. That, and diplomacy is at stake as well. There are kingdoms you would have to pass through that we are allied with in our efforts. I don’t want them mistaking your scouting party for an army.” Ibara let out a sigh and cast his eyes away once more. “And though I believe in his excellency’s strength, none of us here are accustomed to the wilds of this world or how to survive without the basics of humanity. It’s a fool’s errand, through and through, and I’m certain the star will depart from this earth before the skills required to reach it can be obtained by anyone here.”

“...I could probably do it.”

Jun didn’t know how he managed to not only say what he did, but how to do so in a voice above a whisper. Despite how unsure the statement was, he spoke it with unfounded confidence, and thanks to the silence that had fallen after the emperor spoke, everyone heard it. Like the tide pulling back from the shore, the knights who had gathered around the throne parted, leaving the red carpet leading up to it an open path. Jun’s chest raced wildly as he pushed himself away from the wall he’d been hugging, but just as soon as he revealed himself, he could see Hiyori racing towards him.

“Jun-kun!!” Hiyori shrieked as he pulled the hyena into a suffocating embrace, palming his hand through the animal’s soft blue locks. “I’ve been worried sick, where  _ were _ you?”

“Ah, so Jun Savannah-mi has decided to join us finally,” Ibara’s voice, out of sight due to Jun’s face being buried in Hiyori’s chest, boomed loudly. “Although it’s a difficult time at the moment, we’re discussing things that might go over your head. If you wish to stay, I’m sure there’s a corner in the room you can curl up and take a cat nap.”

“It’s Sazanami,” Jun corrected, attempting to push Hiyori off of him and straining himself as he did so. “And I’m not a cat—Gh, Ohii-san, you’re kinda choking me here~?”

“Oh please!” Hiyori exclaimed, a giddy smile forming upon his face. “If I wanted to choke you, you would know~!”

“...Jun,” Nagisa’s call, though quiet and inquiring, cut through the commotion within seconds. “...What did you say as you entered?” It was as though the very reason that Jun revealed himself at all had been an unsightly thing everyone wanted to ignore. However, that same determination that spoke to Jun’s heart earlier remained steadfast, and thus the hyena was compelled to answer.

“I said I could do it,” Jun responded, changing it up to sound a bit more assertive. “I’m someone who excels at surviving and on getting to places quickly. I could route a way to get there too, though I’ve never been. I’m good at picking up on maps and customs most of the time. And if you’re crossing borders as just a pair, it’s even less suspicious than someone heading out on their own or with a large group. I think it’s possible, at least.”

The silence that fell upon the room was dangerous. It felt as though if Jun were to move a single muscle, all chaos would break. Then, as though he couldn’t detect the tension at all, Nagisa took a step towards Jun. Hiyori instantly reasserted his position, placing both hands on Jun’s biceps. Despite the paladin’s frankly lacking build, his grip was somehow scarily strong, enough to pin the hyena in place.

“Jun-kun, what are you saying?” Hiyori’s brow furrowed in concern, his speech trembling as he progressed. “It’s dangerous, even with Nagisa-kun to protect you. No, if he has to protect you, it lowers your chances of survival further, it’s impossible, Jun-kun!”

“I’m not one to get in unnecessary danger on purpose,” Jun kept his hands at his sides, standing firmly where he was as he attempted to claim the footing below as his own. “Yeah, it does sound scary, but until you’ve seen horizons you were never supposed to see, colors you didn’t know exist, nothing’s impossible.”

Quoting  _ that _ guy of all people...Where did that come from? Well, even if  _ he _ was ashamed of Jun as well,  _ he _ should also have a little respect for the hyena’s insistence on not just surviving, but living. Words spoken that weren’t his own, the shock wore on Hiyori’s face openly. It was more eloquent than anything Jun could put together on his own, after all. The nobleman was caught off guard long enough that by the time he realized he needed to reassert himself, it was too late. Nagisa was already there behind him, stealing Jun’s eyes away with his own gaze.

“...Who did you hear?” Nagisa asked.

“My father,” Jun answered, Hiyori’s grip on his arms tightening somehow. “He didn’t ask me to go and see him, but...I can’t imagine wanting to refuse him if he did. I think I’d need to see him, in fact. So I understand Nagi-sama’s desire well. Not being able to get some sort of answer for why you’re living the way you are now, when there’s a chance to get one, how can you really deny that opportunity? That’s what’s impossible.”

“Jun-kun,” Hiyori sounded nearly unrecognizable, his voice hollow and grave. “Why are you encouraging this? I’ve taught you better, haven’t I? I brought you  _ here, _ didn’t I? This is the place where you’re supposed to belong now, and Nagisa-kun too! There’s no need to chase after a past that already ended terribly.”

“You don’t even get how much of a hypocrite you sound right now, do you?” Jun snapped, instantly regretting it as he saw the fury well up in violently violet eyes. Nevertheless, Jun continued. “You’re the one who ran away from this place, picked up the first pathetic thing you saw and tried to help it get some sort of closure on its past. I still don’t know why, but if you could do that for me, I could pay that back somehow with this quest. Besides, no matter how much you try to tell him no, I already told you, it’s gonna be impossible for him to listen to you. He’s already set on leaving, I can tell.”

“Oh?” Hiyori’s lips curled up into a grin Jun had never witnessed before. It wasn’t just forced, but obviously forced, as though its fakeness was meant to be noticed. “Since when did you know my Nagisa-kun so well? You didn’t even know his name until yesterday. Do you really think you could convince me to change my mind over what  _ you _ say, Jun-kun? Calling me a hypocrite, what an ugly word, especially when you can admit you don’t understand my reasons still. I thought I made them fairly obvious, but you’re as dense as ever~ Poor hyena, was there ever a chance for you to repay anything when there wasn’t anything to gain from the start in helping you?”

“...Hiyori-kun, I don’t understand,” Nagisa interrupted. “...You were the one who said to believe in him. Was that a lie?”

Hiyori’s grasp finally faltered, though Jun kept still regardless. Hiyori turned his head away, though he refused to meet Nagisa’s gaze. Jun watched as the nobleman’s lip quivered, and then curled in.

“Nagisa-kun, you should know what I meant by that,” Hiyori returned, speaking barely above a whisper. “If I think it’s impossible for you, there’s no chance for either of you, even together. Why can’t you understand? You should just stay here. We have a destiny to fulfill here, why isn’t that enough?!”

The cry was followed by Hiyori letting go of Jun entirely and finally lifting his head to meet evenly with Nagisa’s own. Jun was faced with Hiyori’s cape flying in his face, and as it settled. Just as he lifted it away, however, it soon pulled away entirely as Hiyori stormed away and out of the hall. The door shut with a fierce banging noise, enough to make Jun instinctively jump in his skin. Nagisa was still as ever, however, his solemn set brow paired with eyes that transfixed themselves onto the hyena’s form. Under such an oppressive gaze, Jun couldn’t help but keep his own just beneath it.

“...There’s no need to feel guilt or like you’ve done anything wrong,” Nagisa attempted to reassure. “...You were correct in your belief, and it is all due to you being able to relate to me as well.” Nagisa’s hand lifted, and Jun’s body stiffened. Rather than have the hand land on Jun, however, it instead hesitated and fell over Nagisa’s heart. “...I appreciate your generosity with your offer. In truth, I do not know if I could reach that light on my own. It could take me a long time because of my difficulty in walking a path by myself. However, I do intend to go.”

“Your excellency—!” Ibara finally spoke, voice harsh and dry. “What are you saying?”

“...I don’t intend to force you to commit yourself, however,” Nagisa continued, ignoring the plea at his back as his expression grew more somber. “...There isn’t any denying the danger of this mission. I believe I will make it, but the more who I bring with me, the more risk of their downfall in my stead. I don’t wish to force that upon you. Thank you, Jun, for speaking up for my case. I won’t ever forget it, and I hope we can meet again once I return.”

“Your excellency, where do you think you’re going?” Ibara’s cry grew desperate, infuriated, and at the same time, the fear in those wide blue eyes was unmistakable.

“...I’m going to pack lightly,” Nagisa answered, “and then I will leave at dawn.”

“Your excellency...” Ibara called out once more, his hand incapable of bringing itself to actually grab the paladin. Thus, the paladin moved around Jun and headed for the same door Hiyori had just escaped from. “This madness...This is madness, your excellency.” The door shut, and blue eyes lit their fury upon Jun before quickly settling as well. “You...Jun Sazanami. Where did you learn to speak when it was not your place...?”

The question pointed at Jun left him wordless, as he didn’t know how to answer. It wasn’t very like him to insert himself into trouble that wasn’t his own. Yet he couldn’t feel like he’d made a mistake; the ache in his chest was not of guilt, but burns from flames of passion as he’d heard Nagisa argue his case earlier. A story that resonated with Jun so wholly that he couldn’t help but empathize.

“I don’t really have a place here,” Jun returned, blanketing his feelings entirely from the emperor he still couldn’t trust. “So if I’ve spoken out of line, it’s because there’s nowhere where I fit. That guy probably feels the same way if he’s so eager to leave for answers to his existence,  _ if _ that’s what he’s supposed to be getting.”

Ibara grit his teeth and then turned to the guards in the room, still watching just as intently as they had been doing. The emperor fixed his gaze on Jun and then stepped around him, heading for the entrance to the hall as well. As Jun watched him leave, he watched how the red head beckoned him to follow with a digit by his swaying hips. Jun followed behind at a distance, feeling the crowd behind him full of murmurs growing closer. As he exited the hall, just barely getting the door shut, his arm was grabbed and he was pulled into darkness. Stone grinding against stone was all Jun could hear, collecting himself together as he attempted to get his bearings. It was only thanks to a torch lit by his captor that Jun could see where he was—a passageway behind the wall, and a very stern looking Ibara glaring at him as he held up their light source. His arm still within the dainty gloved hand, he felt it being twisted as he was dragged down the secret walkway.

“Argh!” Jun yelped, attempting to pull himself back. “Just where the hell do you think you’re taking me?”

“Somewhere private,” Ibara explained hastily, his pace fast while still somehow being a walk, and in heels no less. “You interrupted my one chance to rationally convince his excellency away from this senselessness by appealing to his emotion, so now I have to explain to you the gravity of our situation, because you were clearly not informed.”

“Eh?!” Jun gawked, pulled harder as he fumbled over his own steps. “God, stop tugging me like that—“

“Oh?” Ibara let his hand slip, all the way down until it clasped Jun’s own. “My apologies, do you prefer this?”

“You don’t even have to hold onto me at all,” Jun grunted as he attempted to pull his hand away from the surprisingly strong grip. What other weird things did this lanky guy have in common with Hiyori? “I can keep up with you with that light, I’m not blind.”

“Ohhh?” Ibara dragged the noise before letting go and reaching up. Before Jun could catch the wrist, fingers pinched one of his ears and caused Jun to emit a high pitched yelp as he was pulled forward. “I wasn’t aware a stranger like yourself who didn’t belong knew how to navigate the palace’s maze-like passageways enough to believe everything he sees in here. Very well, I’ll just hold onto your ear to make sure you can at  _ least _ hear me and know you’re headed the right direction.”

Before they walked a single pace further, Jun finally gave up and took Ibara’s hand, letting the childish emperor guide him down to wherever their destination laid.

🥀

It was almost comical how sparse the emperor’s bed chambers were. Aside from the neatly put together bed, covered in clean white bedding that matched that of Jun’s own room, it was almost empty. However, the rest of the quarters looked well lived in—maybe  _ too _ lived in. Papers, books, as well as quills with vials of ink were organized but littered across the space, as though Ibara had a station to observe each document rather than confiding them to the same area. Considering how much there was, perhaps it was easier to live that way, though it made finding a place to sit that  _ didn’t _ make him feel like he was intruding on the emperor’s space.

“Go on, sit anywhere around this table,” Ibara waved his hand around the large map table that took up a majority of the space, the seats mostly overtaken by books rather than keeping them on shelves. Eventually, Jun found one that was unoccupied and sat himself with legs on the seat, tail sticking out through the back of the chair.

“You’ve got this whole campaign planned out,” Jun murmured as he looked across the map of the continent, his stomach twisting slightly as he attempted to comprehend the expanse of the country.

“That we do,” Ibara hummed, slapping the down on the table a green riding crop with golden thorns wrapping around it. “I’ve planned this out from the moment I was given my backing. A nobleman who wished to have greater control of the throne discovered me, propped me up as having long lost blood ties to the last dynasty. He had a lot of allies, but none who wanted to see him in particular as emperor. By using me, he could convince them I was a neutral party and even decorated me in attire that is far too unfitting for me. I’m much more used to a more militant style of dress, you see. To make the story brief, I’m emperor because people believe they can use me, enough to the point that they don’t know I use them all the more readily.”

“That so,” Jun remarked, unimpressed. “It seems kinda like a fast way to get people to walk all over you though, like with Nagi-sama just then.”

“Better that than to die alone because I couldn’t deceive enough people into trusting me,” Ibara returned. “Rather, you just seem to enjoy losing what good favor you have with people, don’t you? Attempting to appease his highness was a role you took yourself and you squandered it in a second.”

“Pardon me for not knowing my place,” Jun retorted as he leaned forward in his seat, resting his arms flatly against the table and propping his chin up. “Ohii-san is...I’ll try to make it up to him later, but I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. He’s the one who kept saying Nagi-sama is special and troubled, I don’t get why he’d be so against him trying to rectify all that.”

“We’re not in a position for him to, that’s why,” Ibara stated, pushing solid color pieces in place around the map of the continent. Soon, it formed what looked like a rather intricately set up game. “When the last emperor fell, it shook the core of the empire and spanned across the world. A man who’d built castles upon sand, they just as soon fell when under no support. Thus, noble states on the fringes that were once loyal to us have split apart, attempting to exert ownership over themselves when they’re in no position to do so. By the time I got into power, one of three things happened to these kingdoms. They might have fallen back into our control when they realized they had no allies to rely upon and no trade to sustain themselves with. They might have resisted despite the former situation and been razed. Or they might have formed a new kingdom with other nobles and are now much more difficult to take back simply because of their combined efforts. Of these three options, three rejoined peacefully, two were burned, and seven have joined forces in two different alliances of two and five.”

“Two and five?” Jun repeated the numbers.

“Indeed,” Ibara pointed out a rather large area of the map on the east coast of the continent, opposite of where the capital Jun sat within near the west coast. “This one is a rather fickle creature. It was conquered in my predecessor’s time and he did so by rather effective means of forming bad blood within the royal bloodline until it erupted into civil war that split the land into two countries. Then, he took over, uniting them and thus giving them time to heal their wounds. Now they’ve come back as one, and their populace is completely resistant to us. It’s rather infuriating, that he didn’t consider how easily his world would fall apart once he departed. Or perhaps he did, and that’s why..”

Instead of finishing his sentence, Jun watched as Ibara crossed the table and placed a small golden button atop the precipice of a mountain at the very top of the map, one that looked so far away from where Jun sat nearest the placement of the capital. Ibara’s eyes met his, and then they both looked at the armies Ibara had placed between the two. Seeing the numbers, Jun felt his stomach twist slightly.

“As you can see, my predecessor made quite a number of enemies,” Ibara let out a half chuckle as he sat himself on the edge of the map. “Ones I’ve inherited in fact. Ones that say I carry the same greed in my eyes. I can’t say they’ve made the wrong assumption about me, nor do I wish to correct them. I was put in power for but a simple purpose—to give those who put me in charge their influence back. Influence that they exerted on those who deserted the kingdom. It is my duty to retrieve the stray mice and gobble them whole, a feat I’ve been trained for since my youth, ironically. Is it any wonder they thought I would make a proper tyrant?”

Ibara adjusted his glasses and pulled a piece away from the field, one that was painted maroon like his hair. Studying it in a gloved hand, the way his brow furrowed was solemn and stern.

“I have limited resources and means, however,” Ibara continued, “and what I have I cannot rely upon for forever. Though we control the trading routes, there are ways in which these two kingdoms have circumvented such roads. Though we have a strong and well equipped army, they are nothing without proper leadership. For too long, our generals have existed in name only, they knew nothing of war until it was commanded of them. Thus, I have had to take to our fronts myself in order to properly lead our charge.”

Ibara placed his piece back down, over near the larger kingdom on the east. The one with the more formidable pieces, the one that was smaller but still vast.

“This country has a resource that is crucial to a project that my predecessor was working on before his untimely death,” Ibara explained. “Rather than choosing the peaceful option of trade, he chose conquest, and as a result, his work goes unfinished. What’s more, I cannot request such trades myself, as the path to reclaim this kingdom was already in effect by the time I took the throne. It’s an endless war until I either surrender or win, and my noble patrons have made it clear that the former is not an option. They don’t even know what the old emperor wanted; they just know they want their power back.”

“Sounds like you’re leashed,” Jun murmured.

“Don’t try to pity my position,” Ibara chuckled with a wave of his whip, “it’s not one you need to act as though I am helpless. On the contrary, I’m merely explaining to you the other powers that be to show you how important it is that I live up to their expectations. Ultimately, I do this for their favor, and so I won’t have to deal with internal conflict. Happy nobles means happy kingdom. At the same time, I must maintain a balance with the peasantry. Their numbers and support are crucial to the effort. Morale is hard to form in war, so there are certain measures one must take. Such as, lowering taxes and providing food and shelter. My greedy patrons who are now being taxed for such services didn’t take too kindly to such efforts at first, but as I’ve managed to regain more land with my strategies compared to their own, they’ve since quieted their complaints. I’m sure it will rise once more if I don’t make progress, however.”

“Okay,” Jun rubbed his temples and let out a sigh, “listen, I’m only half-following you here. What point are you getting at, exactly?”

“Oh, I’m so terribly sorry for not making myself clearer!” Ibara huffed. “I’ll attempt to be brief so your impatient mind won’t wander off. His excellency is considered a hero in this country. Whenever he appears on the battlefield, the morale of our troops skyrocket, and matched with our might we are thus able to crush those who oppose us, minimizing losses and thus boosting our country’s overall morale higher. We have large plans we were supposed to execute soon from now, ones that involve great gain should we execute them properly, but now that this absurd star has landed, everything has been thrown off!”

Ibara’s crop landed on the table once more, and the surface shook. Pieces went flying, scattering from where they had neatly been put in place, and the maroon figure Ibara had once been holding fell near Jun at the capitol. On a side compartment next to him, there were two other pieces inside—a green and orange one. Jun picked them up in one hand each, the green in his left and the orange in his right, observing them quietly. Then, he turned his head towards where the golden button Ibara had placed down earlier was. It remained where it was. Placing the green piece down next to where the maroon figure was, Jun stood up, walked over to where the placeholder for the star was and settled himself next to it, playing with the orange piece between his fingers.

“His father’s your predecessor, right?” Jun watched as Ibara’s jaw stiffened and let out an amused exhale. “Ohii-san told me that at least. Dunno why you guys keep it a secret. But anyway, what’s to say he hasn’t come back and is trying to help? Can’t you spin it to whoever’s looking up at him that he’s going on a heroic quest to confront the ghosts of the past and come back a stronger warrior?”

“That’s if he even makes it,” Ibara retorted.

“And who's to say he won’t if he has a guide?” Jun traced the edge of a claw along the side of the map, careful to not tear it as he carved a path. “It’s difficult to miss the sight of it, after all. It’s a big star in the sky, just find the trail you need and you could get to it easily, especially if you’re traveling light.”

“Have I not made it clear to you yet just what kind of man the old emperor was?” Ibara boomed, scooping his whip across the map and spreading the game pieces everywhere. “Look at this mess. This is his doing. This was the result of his selfishness and greed, all of it. His excellency too is a result of that same egotistical desire to control everything, down to repressing a life to the point it could not fully function on its own. His highness will tell you, his excellency was a shell when he was first discovered, and it was by design. Surely his highness explained this to you if he told you who his father is.”

“...Yeah, he did,” Jun nodded.

“Then why can’t you understand?” Ibara’s lower lip quivered for a moment before he swallowed and stiffened it once more. “How can you in good faith recommend his excellency to see such a figure? Never mind his role in the war we fight, you clearly care nothing about that. I have no knowledge of who your father is, but surely he’s nothing compared to the man who caused all of this.” Ibara once more called attention to the destruction across the map. “Speak against this plan, Jun. I’m not your emperor, but you live in my palace as a guest by my paladin’s command. You do as he says, and he does as I ask of him. We wish for the same thing in this rare instance, so I’ll order you like any other pawn.”

“Hey, since you brought my dad into this,” Jun poked the button on the table, “what about yours?”

“Huh?” Ibara blinked.

“If your dad asked you to go here, would you still say no?” Jun rephrased. Ibara stared at him wordlessly, his face making a multitude of expressions before forming something sour.

“I have no family to speak of,” Ibara explained, “I was abandoned at birth. I would expect I never heard from anyone during that flash because even though surely all who were related to me are dead, I doubt they hardly knew I was alive or who I even was. Not even my mother, whoever she is.”

“Is that the case?” Jun lowered his gaze. “Then yeah, of course you couldn’t empathize with Nagi-sama.”

“I don’t need to in order to know—“

“No, you  _ still  _ don’t get it,” Jun shushed. Ibara’s jaw fell, and Jun continued. “My father wasn’t a saint, but he wasn’t entirely evil either. I don’t think so, at least. There were times he was kind to me, and times he made life hell, but he always tried to make sure I got to where I needed to be in life. He failed, ultimately. He played by someone else’s rules and died. I couldn’t get him to apologize for anything he did to me, or worse of all, leaving me. And when I heard his voice today, he tried to do that, and it made me feel sick. I have to acknowledge that someone worthless like that was my father, and that once upon a time, I looked up to him. But despite all that, if he asked me to come see him one last time, if I could just see his face again now that I know all that I do...I’d go. I’d have left here already. The fact that Nagi-sama even told you just means he wanted help, not that he was looking for permission. He’s going, no matter what anyone says. I think the most important thing that happens is that he at least doesn’t go alone, don’t you?”

“...And you’re volunteering, Jun Sazanami?” Ibara asked as he lowered his chin.

“It doesn’t have to be me,” Jun deflected, “I’m sure if Ohii-san got the order from you, he’d go.”

“Unlikely,” Ibara closed his eyes and reopened them with his gaze fixed at the floor. “He’s the one who saw his excellency at that low point when he was first freed from my predecessor’s grasp. There’s no doubting he feels even stronger about his excellency seeing that man again. If anything, he’d throw them off course until his excellency catches on and ditches him. Besides, news of his arrival has already spread past the point it could be suppressed. Should news get out that both his excellency and his highness are leaving the country on this quest, it would sink morale like a stone. My patrons would question our priorities, and undoubtedly the land we’ve gained would come under risk as those bold enough to question our authority would notice the national anxiety.”

“But what if just one goes?” Jun questioned. “What if one of them goes to see the big phenomenon that’s shaken up the whole world? The other stays behind to protect the front, and the whole country feels safe and like the world is unchanged from this event. It wasn’t like the morale of the country changed all that much when Ohii-san left, right? Just say he came back stronger than ever, and that he’s a force equal to Nagi-sama. That’s the only person I’ve ever heard ‘im call his own equal at least~”

“Ah, I see,” Ibara gripped the whip he held in both hands before lifting his head with a curious grin on his face. “So you  _ are _ volunteering to go with him.”

“Eh...?” A pit formed in Jun’s stomach at the way he was being observed. “No, not me in specific, it doesn’t have to be me—“

“No, you  _ will _ be the one to join him.” Ibara pushed his knee onto the table, and then in one swift motion crawled atop it. His body moved sensually, each muscle feeding into the other as smooth as a snake. Closer and closer he came from one end to where Jun sat. The hyena pulled back in his seat, but before he could get away entirely, Ibara was already there with the end of his whip underneath Jun’s chin. “You’ve already made a case for yourself as an outdoorsman and a competent one at that. You proved your ability by returning his highness back to our court without a scratch and far from malnourished. You hardly believe you belong here in the first place anyway, isn’t that right?”

Jun swallowed hard and attempted to lower his gaze, but the moment he did Ibara only leaned in closer and raised his crop higher, forcing their eyes to meet.

“Isn’t that right, Jun Sazanami?” Ibara repeated. Jun could taste his breath, and noted the sweet flavor. “You’re the only candidate that fits the bill. We don’t know each other, but you’re the only one who’s proven themselves as someone I can trust. Looking after one paladin, given the chance to do the same for another, many would kill to be in your position you know. You really do have my gratitude for bringing back his highness to my court in the high spirited condition he’s in~☆ If anything, that desire we share to see the happiness of such grandiose figures makes us soulmates, don’t you agree?”

“What?!” Jun gawked, but in doing so he left himself vulnerable for Ibara to move in closer, faces nearly touching. The only thing Jun could think of in that moment was that this guy, this emperor, this  _ snake _ reminded him of Hiyori but only in the worst ways possible. “Gah! Back off already, I’ll go, I’ll go!!”

Just like that, the whip pulled back, but rather than leave Jun’s personal bubble, Ibara invaded it further. He seated himself at the edge of the table, wrapping his legs around the back of the chair Jun sat in. He then cupped Jun’s cheeks in both hands forcing the hyena to maintain eye contact with the horrible venomous emperor.

“That’s right,” Ibara asserted, “you will go. You’re going to protect his excellency at all cost, and you’re going to get him to his destination and then  _ safely _ in one piece. If I find that even one scar has graced his immaculate form, if I find that even one hair on his head has been cut short, Jun Sazanami...” Ibara leaned in close enough that their faces  _ were _ touching now. Ibara’s bangs pressed against Jun’s own, and the spit from the emperor’s mouth left the hyena’s lips feeling wet. Jun gripped the arms of the chair he sat in, unable to even close his eyes from the way Ibara’s thumbs pulled at the skin on his face. “Bring him back unharmed, or I will have your head.”


	5. At Dawn's First LIght

Even as Jun was forced to pick out pieces of hay from his hair, he had to admit that sleeping in the palace’s horse stables was somehow more comfortable than any of the beds in the palace. No fear of tearing anything up, no mattress to sink into to the point he couldn’t breathe, just a simple natural surface that was close to the ground. The best part of all was the fact he didn’t even have to share it with a horse, Ibara made sure to reserve one just for him.

Well, that wasn’t the whole case. This was the stable that Nagisa’s horse, Adam, was supposed to be in. He’d been sequestered off to another one without the paladin’s knowledge, and not only was it Jun’s role to tell him that, but to then be taken with him. It wasn’t his plan, of course—Ibara’s command was simply one Jun was obliged to the point of death to obey.

How many stupid mistakes had Jun made in a single day? First he’d gotten himself trapped out on the ledge next to his window, spent all of the day's light shivering for his life, only to be rescued and subsequently pulled into the arms of the person Hiyori was devoted to. Hiyori, the person Jun still hadn’t apologized to for doing something so stupid. Hiyori, who he should also probably apologize to for not explaining his point of view better. Hiyori, who he was likely not going to see before his trip.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Jun sat up in the hay pile and took a whiff of the fresh morning air. Sure, it was mixed in with the smell of horse dung, but even that felt more homely than the lemon-orange scent that made the palace air far too stifling to breathe. Yeah, the outdoors was better. Out of this wound up human civilization full of huge egos was better. The only caveat was, he’d arrived here with a larger than life human, and now he’d be leaving with one too. Jun’s stomach twisted in knots, and whether that was due to hunger or nervousness, it didn’t matter. Soon, the confrontation would begin, and Jun would have to convince Nagisa to let them go together to that star.

The stable door began to creak open, and Jun found himself shifting uncontrollably before taking a defensive pose on his hands and feet. Rather than be greeted with the sight of a hero on a quest, however, Jun’s golden eyes met with purple, and his heart sank.

“...Jun-kun?” Hiyori’s voice was quiet, far quieter than Jun was used to hearing him speak. Instinctively, Jun rose to his feet and forced his hands at his side, clenching them into fists. “What are you doing in Nagisa-kun’s stable?” Rather than accusatory, he simply sounded hurt. Or maybe that was Hiyori’s new strategy to make him feel guilty. Whether intentional or not, it was working.

“Ohii-san,” Jun attempted to collect himself, head lowering. “I...Why I’m staying in here is Ibar—the emperor’s idea. He planned this so um, Nagi-sama wouldn’t just leave on his own. ‘Cause he finally accepted the fact that Nagi-sama will leave with or without permission, and he wanted someone to at least go with him. That’s why I’m here.”

“Are you trying to take your own agency out of this?” Hiyori asked, the question sending a shiver down Jun’s spine. The hyena quickly shook his head.

“No, I’m not,” Jun defended himself. “I don’t want to see harm befall Nagi-sama either, and I don’t want him to have to travel that far of a distance alone. I meant what I said yesterday. I know what it would feel like if your father dying ended up making you feel out of place for the rest of your life, no matter what home anyone tries to provide. And the emperor, he told me about the old one. I don’t know what this person he’s going to see is like, but I’ll make sure that whoever he is, if he causes any danger to Nagi-sama, I’ll protect him. I’ll protect him from anything that’ll hurt him on the way there and back, I promise—“

Arms flung themselves around Jun’s form, arms that threatened to crush his back with their weight. Jun hardly had time to catch his breath, overwhelmed with the warmth and tightness of the embrace. Fingers combed themselves through Jun’s hair, and the hand on his back traced his spine with a gloved hand.

“Jun-kun, you truly are a miserable child,” Hiyori’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Jun-kun...I want _you_ to come back safe too. Don’t die out there, I won’t forgive you.”

A big hug like this wasn’t unusual coming from Hiyori, nor was his overly touchy nature. But for once, Jun didn’t feel stifled. Jun didn’t feel like he couldn’t breathe. For once, he never wanted this to end. Hiyori’s scent, fruity fragrances with a hint of mint, had grown to be like home to him. He was leaving home for a second time. Only now, he had one to look forward to coming back to, and he couldn’t help but smirk at what a nice change that was.

“I will,” Jun vowed as he let his arms wrap back around Hiyori, awkward but determined to return the suffocating hold in full. “I promise, I’ll make sure we both come back just as we are right now.”

“That’s no good at all!” Hiyori exclaimed, the joy in his voice forced, but Jun knew why. “Come back sparkling a little brighter, okay? It’ll be bad weather if you’re just the same old boring Jun-kun.”

“Right, right,” Jun grinned, resting his head against Hiyori’s. “Try to be good for the emperor too, please. I don’t need you getting yourself expelled because you can’t keep your damn mouth shut~”

“Just who do you think I am?!” Hiyori returned incredulously, pulling Jun out of the comparatively loose hug the hyena was giving and grabbing the youth by his shoulders. “And what’s with that goofy grin of yours? Are you really so happy to be leaving me...?”

“No,” Jun denied with an attempt at reeling himself back in, still in a haze from the heat coming off of Hiyori. “I’m just...I’m just glad we got to meet. Before I leave again, that is...But I guess, also just the fact we met at all is miraculous. I’m grateful, Ohii-san.”

“Hmmm~?” Hiyori cheeks flushed a pale pink before his face lit up a new, genuine joy that was hard to come by on the always smiling nobleman’s face truly being a sight for sore eyes. “Ahaha, Jun-kun, has my love finally reached you? Are you finally waking up that shining gem inside of you? Good boy, be less boring just like that, Jun-kun!”

Eyes blinded by the light before him, Jun hadn’t noticed when a shadow appeared. He hadn’t noticed the way he was being watched, or that a third party had entered the equation at all. It was only as Hiyori swayed in place that out of the corner of Jun’s eye he caught sight of white. That white then sent a hard chill down the hyena’s spine, and his hands grew cold and clammy. Any warmth from Hiyori’s embrace only moments ago vanished, and he was left to be the one to make eye contact with the one waiting at the entrance of the stable.

Nagisa didn’t look angry, though there wasn’t anything about his expression that set Jun at ease. His low set brow, the way his lips slightly parted, the fact that his gaze was more on Hiyori than the worthless animal being held. Jun was left with the dilemma at hand; tell Hiyori his real beloved was here, or wait until Nagisa reclaimed what was his. His decision unmade, time advanced and chose the latter.

“...Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa spoke the paladin’s name in his usual quiet tone, not even trying to raise it, like he was attempting to be unobtrusive for some reason. “...Why are you here?”

“Nagisa-kun!” Jun watched as Hiyori practically jumped out of his skin, the elation on his face melting away into nervousness as he turned around. Two childhood friends facing one another with an oppressive air between them, and Jun stood on the outside, an intruder. Arms flung around Nagisa’s shoulders, and as though their bodies moved as one, Nagisa caught Hiyori in his arms. The two held each other tightly, enough that it made their observer’s body ache.

“...Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa spoke his companion’s name with such saccharine intimacy, Jun forced his head to look away. “...I will return, I promise. I’ll ensure Jun won’t come to any

harm as well.”

“Uuu,” Hiyori whined, sounding less like the man Jun knew and more like a child. Bodies shifted, and when Jun looked up, the paladins were pressing their foreheads together. “I can’t stand this plan, I really can’t. Ibara’s made it clear one of us needs to stay in order to at least ensure there’s a home to come back to, but I really should just go with you.”

“...That’s no good, Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa chided softly, as though he _were_ talking to a child. “...It’s not just a home for you and me. We have duties to fulfill, after all. Just as well, from what you told me, I would like it if Jun had a home he knew he could return to.”

Why? Why was this happening? Why was Nagisa arguing for his right to exist when he’d just come across what must have been a bittersweet scene? Jun didn’t understand. Didn’t Nagisa feel just then the same way Jun felt now? Where was his possessiveness, his greed? Or was he genuinely too good of a person to let that override his sense of compassion?

“Nagisa-kun...” Hiyori spoke his beloved’s name, and the two shared a soulful look. Then, as though conspiring to dig in deeper the blade in Jun’s chest, their lips met in a passionate kiss. Jun didn’t know why he watched, why he kept his eyes fixed on the scene before him.

His feet remained where they were, and as much as he wanted to scream, he kept silent. No, if Nagisa gave him that much leeway before, then it only made sense that Jun cave here. Jun knew what he was getting into with stepping in between this sort of relationship, didn’t he? The couple parted with saliva bridging their tongues, and they pulled each other into another, even tighter embrace. Then, they physically separated, hands slipping down to hold the other’s.

“I love you,” Hiyori nearly sobbed out. “Always. Don’t forget that, Nagisa-kun, I love you more than anyone ever has or will.”

“...Mm,” Nagisa wore a soft smile, brushing his gloved fingers across Hiyori’s cheek. “...You’ve taught me that word so many times, and though its definition still puzzles me, instinctively I feel the same way. I love you as well, and when I return I promise you that we’ll be together forever.”

“One day I’ll make sure you can say that to me without sounding so confused!” Hiyori proclaimed. Despite his giggles, Jun saw a bead of water forming in violet eyes. “Alright, let me at least see you off too. Oh, I hate goodbyes, I really do.”

The two exited the stable, and Jun nearly forgot to follow them. It wasn’t until Nagisa turned his head back towards Jun, making eye contact for a brief second that the hyena remembered his role in all of this. He chased after the two and around the corner, entering the stable where Nagisa’s mighty steed was located. All of its dressings were on the wall as well, waiting to be worn by the stallion. Jun had learned how to dress a horse thanks to months spent with Jane Grey, Hiyori’s steed, and so without delay, he began to prepare the saddle. Doing this ended up proving a good distraction, as he could see Hiyori and Nagisa were still at the front door, holding onto each other and breathing the same air. Jun forced himself to focus instead on adjusting the chainmail, and he couldn’t help but notice just how much larger Adam was in comparison to Jane Grey.

“Nagisa-kun, what are you taking with you?”

“...Just this satchel of essentials. Also, I’ve got some money sewn on the inside of my clothes.”

“How much did you take?”

“...Enough to not weigh me down in a fight. I plan to pitch up a tent as it grows dark as I travel, but early on I know of stops on the way for inns as well. If we need to make money on the way there, bounties should be easy to take down.”

“I wish you wouldn’t pick any unnecessary fights, but if you must I’m sure you’ll succeed. Oh, and since you’ll be living off the land, so be sure to stick by rivers! Ah, I’m sure Jun-kun will tell you that, of course, he’s the one who fishes. Jun-kun, you remembered your net, didn’t you?”

Jun nearly missed the directed call but managed to pick up what Hiyori was saying near the end. He lifted his own satchel as he placed it on Adam’s saddle, the necessary net packed inside along with other light supplies. Jun took a look at the pair, still holding onto one another and looking perfect as they did so. He took the simple belongings from Nagisa’s side quietly and packed them as well, the act going unremarked upon save for an acknowledging glance from his soon-to-be companion. Just as swiftly any attention was lost, and Jun was left to listen on to the conversation in silence.

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” Hiyori whimpered as he buried his face in Nagisa’s shoulder. “You’re really leaving just as I come back...Is this punishment for having been gone so long? I feel like this is something my aniue would do to teach me a lesson about being too bratty.”

“...I’m not doing this to hurt you, Hiyori-kun.”

“I know, I know,” Hiyori scoffed before curling up further into Nagisa’s arms. “I really can’t stand to say goodbye. I shouldn’t have come down here, I don’t want to watch you go.”

“...It was a good thing you did come down here though, wasn’t it?” Nagisa placed his hand on Hiyori’s head and rubbed his back in a similar fashion to how Jun was petted earlier. The ghost of those touches filled the hyena with shivers everywhere, and he found himself nuzzling his cheek against the saddle. “...You and Jun seem to have made up from yesterday.”

“Mm...” Hiyori lifted his head and met with Jun mimicking the action somehow. The hyena’s hands balled up as they were pressed between himself and the horse, disliking the feeling of Hiyori’s analytical observance. “Mmmmm...You’re right, Nagisa-kun. It was good to see Jun-kun all curled up like a kitten before I left~”

Jun’s ears fell on the back of his head, about to grit his teeth and bite back when Nagisa spoke.

“...I saw him earlier like that as well,” Nagisa added with an innocent smile forming on his face. “...I was baffled, but then Hinata-kun and Hinata-kun arrived to tell me of his plans to keep his offer from yesterday. Fufu~ I can’t refuse such dedication, can I?”

“No, I suppose you can’t,” Hiyori agreed, letting his eyes close as he rested his head against Nagisa’s chest. Just when it looked like he was getting comfortable, however, Nagisa began to pull away. As though ice water had been poured on top of his head, Hiyori began to shiver violently. “You’re going already...?”

“...Jun has finished preparing Adam for the trip,” Nagisa pointed out, his arms still held tightly by Hiyori even as his own dropped. “...The sooner we leave, the sooner we return.”

Hiyori’s face made a multitude of different expressions before finally landing on one that could be called concern. Fingers slowly loosened their grip, and eventually Nagisa was freed. The mighty paladin crossed around to the other side of Adam from where Jun was and hooked his foot into the saddle as he pulled himself up. Sat upon the steed with his cape flowing over his shoulder, Jun couldn’t help but understand why Nagisa was so revered. He looked like a modern day hero, one who anyone could recognize as such.

“Nagisa-kun...” Hiyori’s voice trailed off, and though Jun wasn’t looking at his face at the moment, he could hear how empty his expression must have been at that moment. Devoid of happiness, in utter shock that this was happening.

Then, to add onto the complexity of the moment, Jun pulled himself up onto the back of Adam’s saddle. Nagisa’s eyes had ushered him on, and now behind the larger paladin, Jun struggled where to place his hands. Eventually, he settled for Nagisa’s waist, an action which thankfully earned no ire looks from either. Perhaps he was overthinking the mind of someone like Hiyori who had certainly never understood the phrase “too touchy.” 

“...Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa addressed back, reaching out a hand while the other remained on Adam’s reins.

Hiyori took it quickly, clenching it tight as streaks of red born from tears stained his cheeks. Jun’s heart formed into a clump, and moving out of instinct, he extended his own hand. It hung in the air, and just as Jun thought he might have been rejected, he soon felt the familiar heat of Hiyori’s fingers envelop his own. One hand holding Nagisa’s, one hand linked with Jun’s, and Hiyori had never looked more distraught. It was clear, however, that it wasn’t about choice—he would be miserable at letting go of either, let alone both. Something about the thought put Jun’s heart at ease a little better. Hiyori still grabbed his hand when it reached out to him, if only because he had it available to be taken in the first place. There wasn’t a need to worry about stepping in between or being treated lower ranking, not with Hiyori who loved so fully and deeply it could reach anyone who accepted it. Jun, who’d accepted that so long ago now, could understand that once more.

“Ohii-san,” he addressed with a sentimentality that he couldn’t hide, “we’ll be back soon as we can, ‘kay? I know you’ll be fine without us, especially since you’re back in your element in this country. Do what you gotta do to bring your home to peace, be the hero you wanted to be for me.”

“Heh,” Hiyori’s smile cracked back onto his face, “what is the point of _me_ going to war if neither of you are there to see it? We really should have just focused on ending this stupid conquest and then all go together to the star, if it was still even there. Ah~ this plan truly is the worst.”

With a squeeze to both their hands, Hiyori’s gradually slipped away, and then just as soon he pulled his own arms around his chest. That signature cheery smile Jun knew resurfaced, and whether it was forced or not, it was still good to see. He made another complicated face, one that ended with Hiyori’s eyes shutting altogether.

“...Mm, we’ll be back safely, Hiyori-kun,” Nagisa stated, though his tone sounded as though he were responding to something.

Then, without another word, Nagisa flicked Adam’s reins quietly and the animal began to move. Jun’s hands retreated back to their place around Nagisa’s waist, his head turning to get one last glimpse at the paladin who’d become his entire world for the last six months—

One turn of a corner, and he was gone from view, and when Jun would see him again, he didn’t know.

☀️

Nagisa was built differently from Hiyori. Not only was he slightly taller, but his height was more evenly distributed between his legs and torso. Hiyori’s legs were long, but in exchange, he actually sat slightly shorter than Jun, which allowed the hyena to rest his chin on the human’s shoulder easily. That wasn’t the case here at all, instead met with a face full of the paladin’s flowing white hair that strongly carried a familiar apple scent, one that had Jun nostalgic already.

The city of Cosmotropolis came to life around them as they quickly tore their way through the streets, the gate they were leaving open already and allowing them safe passage to the open trade route beyond. Jun hadn’t really asked about their map situation yet, but he was sure he’d get an idea soon. There were landmarks along the path, guiding Nagisa to their first stop most likely. Though they packed light, they would certainly take advantage of what time they had in the empire.

Jun studied the war map in Ibara’s tactics chamber the previous night, and came to the conclusion that it would take them at least a week on a fast horse to make it past the border. A lot of the empire was just land, and they needed to head from the west into the center where the border between this nation and the next laid. There were two mountain ranges of identical length stretching from shore to inland in mirrored fashion. They miraculously remained disconnected from one another at a single point in the center, an area known as the Funnel.

From what Jun had seen, the continent was divided in an odd fashion. At the bottom laid Rozeria, its shape similar to that of a budding rose. Then there was Newdia above that, its shape reminiscent of a diamond. Then lastly above was that of Sutarmia, its odd curved oval shape nevertheless the home of a peaceful country, often called the halo of the continent. 

These were all terms Ibara had explained to Jun in excruciating detail, but they helped in at least getting a better layout of the land. It didn’t seem like it would be that difficult to reach Mount Fine, at least. Get out of Rozeria, only needing to pass through two borders, and from there, reach the mountain, climb it, say hi to Nagisa’s father, and then get home. Simple, easy even. Jun had traveled further for longer, but this would certainly be the shortest trip he’d had since leaving the place of his birth.

“...Jun,” Nagisa’s voice, though quiet in tone, reached Jun’s ears easily thanks to the deep timbre of his voice. “...Now that we’re on the open road, hold on a little tighter. Adam can be quite easy to fall off of if you aren’t prepared.”

Jun was confused by the sentiment, but attempted to obey anyway. He linked his arms around Nagisa’s waist, still giving himself a little breadth of room. Then, Nagisa flicked his reins and let out a commanding “hah!” The wind picked up instantaneously, and only grew. Forced down his throat with little time to swallow it down, Jun’s grasp quickly tightened in an attempt to brace himself. Hands fell on Nagisa’s chest and clamped down through the fabric that covered it, and Jun instantly noticed a striking difference between the two paladins he knew.

Nagisa was firm. Compared to the squashy Hiyori, whose body somehow felt closer to that of a woman than a man, this was much more assertively a man’s chest. The thought was embarrassing on its own, let alone the fact that Jun found it all the more satisfying to grasp. His face was buried within Nagisa’s beautiful mane of silvery white that carried a gentle apple scent. Meanwhile, his palms slid themselves across pecs and abs as he slinked his way to a more secure hold around the paladin’s sides, each muscle well defined even through the fabric covering the human’s chest. Either it was the cold of the wind that was getting to him, or the stark realization that Nagisa was far different from what he was used to, but Jun’s body shivered violently as he burrowed his face further into the man’s form for any semblance of warmth.

For how long they travelled like that, Jun couldn’t tell. The world moved too fast and he had no way of looking past Nagisa’s shoulder. Trapped within the paladin’s mane, his face brushing against the sheath of the man’s blade on his back, there was very little else to do except lose all sense of time and place until the winds grew weak. Eventually, they did. They did with a start, with Jun sliding hard against Nagisa’s back as Adam’s gallop quickly slowed to a halt. Jun’s grasp remained tight, concern growing at the fact that they remained still. Eventually lifting his chin, he could see Nagisa was staring off in the distance, and the sound of voices reached his ears.

“Akehoshi!” A stern voice cried out. “Watch the way you handle that sword, you’re going to kill someone if you aren’t careful.”

“Ohhh, you think I’m waving it around willy nilly?” A chipper voice returned. “Just you watch, Hokke, I’ll show you how this new technique will take down anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention!”

“You’re going to cut up our supplies if you don’t pay close enough attention,” a third voice groaned.

“Whoops, sorry, Sari,” the chipper one sang in apology. “Hey, Ukki, you’ve been kinda quiet? Normally you jump in and help come up with the punchline by now.”

“Er,” an unsure fourth sounded, and Nagisa’s body tensed in Jun’s arms. “I didn’t wanna say anything, but we’re kinda being watched?”

“Huh...?”

“...Jun, would you please let go?” Nagisa’s voice snapped through all other senses and brought Jun back to the present. His hands on the man’s form fell quickly, and the ghost of their touch left the hyena in shivers. Had he really been holding him so close?

“Sorry,” he offered in a grumble.

“...It’s alright,” Nagisa replied as he stepped off of Adam. “...Stay here, I will be back shortly.”

Given time to view the scene in full, Jun was puzzled as to why exactly they’d stopped in the first place. There was a river, and they were about to cross a bridge. The four voices he’d heard were exactly that, just four people loitering around the area. Off in the near distance, he could see the road connected to a village, an inconsequential structure that should have held barely anything of value. Judging by the dress of the men in question, they all looked well dressed and prepared to head off on their own journey, simply stopping to chat. On the other side of the bridge and past the open field, Jun spied a stable, perhaps one that attended to not just this village but another village’s horses as well. They were likely heading there, so why was there a need to stop for them? They just appeared to be simple travelers, not thieves or bridge trolls.

“Wait...Ah, it’s a paladin of Rozeria!” A red head amongst the group cried out in recognition, his reaction totally ignored by Nagisa who kept his gaze fixed upon the orange haired boy at the center of the group.

“...Who taught you how to wield that sword?” Nagisa asked calmly, though the question seemed to put the orange haired one—Akehoshi, as he was called—on edge.

“It...It wasn’t just one person,” the boy, looking to be around Jun’s age, answered. “I had an inspiration, but I’ve been learning to make this swing my own, so no one really taught me except me.”

“...I see,” Nagisa stepped back, placing a hand to his chest. “...In that case, I wish to challenge you to a duel.”

“Eh?!” The small group pulled together around Akehoshi, their mixed bewilderment and anger reaching all the way to Jun, who sat on the sidelines.

What was this? What was going on? There were times where, when attempting to show off, Hiyori too would do illogical things like getting himself into more trouble than it was worth, but would Nagisa really do something like that? His nature was calm, and he stared only at the ginger with a fixed gaze. Something wasn’t adding up here, and all Jun could do was grip the saddle below.

“...Ah, not to the death,” Nagisa corrected, “just to disarm one another. It shouldn’t take us very long, I just want to test that swing of yours.”

“Mmm...” Akehoshi’s glare, a childish blue color, became bubbly and bright within moments. “Alright~! Just one thing, if I win, _you_ have to give me all your coins, even the ones you’ve got hidden on ya! Don’t try hiding them, my nose can smell money from a mile away.”

Wait, _were_ they highwaymen?!

The ginger’s party spread away from the short distance between the two swordsmen, their eyes locked on the impending duel and standing at the ready to rush in should things go too far. Nagisa drew his blade from behind his back, a weapon small enough to fit in one hand for him, but for another weaker man it would certainly require double the arm strength. Akehoshi held his own in a much more assertive manner than previously, no longer frivolously waving it but holding it out before him. The tension from their stare down drowned out even the sounds of birds chirping above, the sun still high in the sky though starting to wane.

Then, the first step came. Not from Nagisa, but from the emboldened Akehoshi. He ran forward with a blade that moved in a series of directions that were difficult to follow, but each connected into the other seamlessly. Nagisa met the first clash, then second, and nearly missed the third. Jun’s stomach dropped, his mind racing at the looming prospect of what would happen if Nagisa lost, but that didn’t happen. Rather than a fourth clang of metal, something else occurred that Jun somehow missed. Without warning, Akehoshi’s blade flew into the air and landed on the river shoreline, just missing the water by a few centimeters.

“Argh, no!” The blond one—‘Ukki,’ if Jun heard correctly, gripped his head and cried out. “We’re gonna have to give up all our money to this guy now?!”

“No, no,” the red head—Sari? That one shook his head and wore a disappointed grimace. “Only Subaru made that bet against the paladin. It would have been nice to have extra funds, but considering he didn’t ask for anything before the duel, we owe him nothing.”

“...There is one thing I’d like to have you answer for me,” Nagisa spoke, whether in reference to the red head or not, no one could tell. “...What is your name?”

“He could have asked that to start instead of a pointless duel,” the black haired Hokke grumbled.

“Me?” The ginger pointed to himself and then smirked. “I’m Subaru Akehoshi. Um, can I know your name too? Especially since you just beat me and all.”

“...My name is Nagisa Ran,” the paladin answered, holding out a hand with an incredibly warm smile on his face. The brightness of it reached his eyes, and Jun found himself staring a little too hard. “...Thank you for the duel. It was enlightening.”

“You’re not gonna take that technique, are you?” Subaru laughed as he scratched the back of his neck while taking Nagisa’s hand with his other. “I guess it doesn’t matter much since you completely bested it, though. I didn’t even know it had that weak point.”

“...We all have our own methods,” Nagisa answered. “...It is by sharing those with others in combat that we are able to teach ourselves and one another how to improve what we’ve missed. I look forward to learning how you’ve improved your technique should we meet again, Akehoshi Subaru-kun.”

“Uhh,” Subaru blinked and chuckled awkwardly, their hands pulling away from one another. “Hmm~ I don’t know if we will, but thanks, Nagisa-san. We’re heading back to our homeland, so I’m not really sure we’ll see each other again...But sure! I’ll train up in hopes we can have another go. Don’t expect me to go down so lightly next time~☆”

Jun watched as Nagisa sheathed his sword, turned on his heel and effortlessly left the scene he’d just caused. Meanwhile, Subaru was left to perform the walk of shame as he retrieved his sword before it had any chance further of falling into the drink. Jun leaned back in the saddle as much as he could, and once Nagisa had rejoined him, he returned to his position from earlier, albeit he attempted to lessen his touchiness. Hands wrapped underneath Nagisa’s arms, gripping at his shoulders. Considering his height, it made more sense to cling to the man this way. Nagisa’s shoulders were broad and as firm as the rest of him, so Jun didn’t fear himself accidentally letting go or slipping.

As they passed the party of losers, Jun’s eyes met with green ones hidden behind a pair of circular lenses. Holding a wooden staff and bearing a timid stance, Jun noticed how the figure winced as their gazes met. Weird.

Crossing the bridge, Jun braced himself for Nagisa to push them into a sprint once again. His shoulders rolled forward, taking deep breaths as he expected them to be cut off fast. However, it didn’t happen just yet. Instead, they continued at an oddly slow pace, Nagisa’s head turning back to look at the scene they’d left behind.

“Nagi-sama?” Jun called the man’s name in question. “Is something up with them?”

“...Hm?” Nagisa uttered the noise before letting out a breath and facing forward. “...Ah, I’m sorry. I was distracted just then. Thank you for alerting me.”

Without giving an actual answer, they were off. Wind blew past Jun and interrupted his thoughts, giving him little room to do anything but ponder just what was up with that strange party that intrigued Nagisa so much.

🌖

Jun brushed the towel he held between his ears, rubbing dry the blue tufts of fur atop his head. Wiggling it down his form, he shook off the rest of the wet off his tail and let out a relieved sigh. He used to hate taking baths, but ever since Hiyori took him in, he’d grown so used to them that even the grime from one long horse trip felt like it was too much. It _had_ been a long horse trip, Adam evidently as strong and as fast as he looked. Dressing himself in the single pair of nightclothes he’d brought, he slipped the chest cover through his arms and then tied loosely the already laced corset. Once finished, he threw on soft pants that had a specially tailored hole for his tail, looser than the one on his fighting ones. Completely clean and ready to finish the night, Jun stepped out of the chamber, the last one to have been in there, and hushed out the light with his breath.

It wasn’t a particularly long walk back to the room where he and Nagisa were staying, and yet the hall seemed to stretch with each passing moment. This anxiety he was feeling, he knew it was irrational, and yet at the same time, he wanted to be able to excuse it as legitimate. After all, he’d be sharing a bed with Nagisa. It wasn’t like Jun wasn’t expecting it; in fact, considering how close they were, he _was_ expecting it. He was expecting to somehow be treated in much the same manner Hiyori treated him, a body pillow to hold through the night. However, at least with Hiyori, something more developed from that, something he knew would only happen with Hiyori, who was already lonely when he met Jun. Nagisa...Nagisa was on a quest. He wasn’t doing this out of a misguided desire for revenge or frustration. He was doing it for himself, and Jun was just along for the ride.

So in a way, didn’t it feel like he’d be out of place, sleeping in the spot where Hiyori should be? He thought back to earlier in the day—a time that felt ages ago already—and how he felt when Hiyori held both of their hands so tightly it hurt. Surely to Hiyori, Jun wasn’t stepping in the way of anything. Even Nagisa allowed it then. But here...No, it couldn’t progress the same way. Nor could it, really. Despite the fact that Nagisa had been so magnanimous towards Jun, far more than the hyena felt he deserved, it was clear to him that Hiyori was his perfect match. So warm and lively, able to break down that intimidating barrier he wore. Jun didn’t even know why he was thinking about it so much. Maybe just the guilt he felt, wondering if he should have argued for Hiyori to be standing here after all.

Hand outstretched to the room, Jun shook off the thought with his whole body, attempting to get out the last of his nerves. There was no use thinking about things that way, what happened had happened. He and Nagisa were simply sharing a bed as warriors, and people traveled like this all the time to save on expenses, just like they were doing. This wasn’t something to think too hard about, and the only reason he was in the first place was just because of how much Hiyori’s influence taught him how to view the world. Always going on and on about hugging and how necessary it was, as if it were a universal truth. The few times Jun _did_ get hugged in his youth, it wasn’t always for happy reasons. He couldn’t accept that plot so easily, and it was exactly one of the useless things Hiyori taught him that he should forget, now that he’d be learning from Nagisa instead.

Though, doing so would be difficult. Just like taking baths, could he really forget about that warmth?

Jun made the mistake of having that thought as he opened the door, greeted with candlelight illuminating the small room. Inside sat Nagisa, hair down from the ponytail he wore and curled up with his back against the wall, reading a book that he held inside his hands. His expression was blank, showing neither enjoyment or discontent. He was simply existing in the moment, lost in whatever world existed within those pages. Those many, many pages that left Jun’s head spinning at the sight of. He was a good chunk of the way in, when had he started such a book?

“Nagi-sama,” Jun stated the man’s name to alert his arrival. Nagisa didn’t move his head at first, but after Jun took a step, he blinked and then lifted his head. The paladin watched him for a moment, and then put a bookmark into his reading, putting it on the nightstand next to him before standing up. “You don’t have to stop, I was just making sure you knew I was back.”

“...I understand,” Nagisa responded, pulling back the sheets he’d been sitting on. “...We should go to bed as soon as possible, though. We’ll wake early and fetch something to eat before heading off again.”

“Right...” Jun muttered.

The bed wasn’t small, but Jun knew how a bed of this size felt when it was him and Hiyori. He swallowed, forcing himself closer to the mattress. Maybe it would be different next to Nagisa, maybe he wouldn’t be so naturally touchy. Letting his leg sink into the hard mattress, he let out a sigh of relief at the fact that it wasn’t as unbearably soft as the beds at the palace.

“...Jun, may I ask something?” Nagisa’s inquisitive tone, matched with the desire for permission to _ask_ of all things, was completely foreign to Jun, who normally found himself among those who would demand instead. Jun nodded in confusion, his descent into the bed slowing as he lowered his hands before his chest. “...Those markings on your face, are they part of you, or did you deliberately not clean your face to keep them? Are they expensive to maintain and culturally significant to you?”

“Oh,” Jun raised his brow, surprised at how thorough the question ended up being, splitting off into two. Kneeling on the bed rather than laying down, Jun found it easier to gesture to his face in response. “Um, it’s not that I didn’t wash my face, it’s more like it’s difficult to remove without this special remover meant to take care of it. It is important to my family, at least...I guess it doesn’t matter that much though. Without maintenance, it’ll wash off eventually, and I’ll have nothing but the clothes I wear during the day to remind me of home. Even then, I’ll probably outgrow those, or Ohii-san’ll make me wear somethin’ more empire appropriate, and I’ll lose even that.”

“...I see,” Nagisa, settled on the bed as he had been before, curled up with arms around his legs that were pulled to his chest, wore a complicated expression. “...That’s rather sad to think about. If you’d like, once we’re back, we can see about finding anyone who might know anything about your village—”

“There’s no one left, Nagi-sama,” Jun interrupted hands clenched on his knees. “There’s nobody left alive that’s from my village. They either succumbed to famine, war, or they vanished without a trace. It’s deserted, forgotten about, like it never existed. There’s nothing there. That story born there, that history...It dies when I die.”

Nagisa was quiet, his brow curled up in concern as he stared at Jun, who avoided his direct eye contact. The gesture was returned, and the orange glow from the candle on Nagisa’s face shortened as he turned his head forward, the fringe of his hair when let down casting a shadow over his features.

“...I’m sorry,” Nagisa offered. “...That sounds incredibly difficult to deal with.”

Such a phrase was never offered to Jun, but he thought about it a lot. He thought about the ways someone might respond to him if he talked about his village, and the way he thought that answer in his head sounded so dismissive. But it didn’t. Coming from Nagisa, all it did was make him exhausted, enough to accept it. It _was_ a lot to deal with.

“Yeah,” Jun attempted to let out a chuckle but found his lips unable to form a proper smile. “It’s too much, actually. So you don’t have to pry or anything...”

“...Does your father have something to do with it?” Nagisa asked the worst possible question someone could ask at that very moment, and yet his continued kindness put Jun in a position of feeling unable to deny providing some sort of answer. Tiredness washed over his body enough that he hit the pillow on the bed with a decent amount of force, and he still felt compelled to say something. He could feel Nagisa’s eyes on his form, and remaining silent wasn’t an option.

“Yeah, and no,” Jun half-heartedly remarked, curling up on his side facing away from Nagisa, hoping that by staring at the wall he could pretend he was talking to no one but the air. “My dad’s situation was sort of a...A catalyst, I guess you could call it. His demise was what got me out of the village in the first place. Away from the insanity that surely followed after his death. Because of that, maybe I was saved from having to be a victim of what happened there. Maybe I live because I wasn’t there to see the demise of everything. Or maybe...Maybe there was still a chance for me to save it, and I didn’t know it, because I travelled so far north and met Ohii-san, that by the time we returned, everything was in ruins.”

Evidently, Nagisa’s lack of presence worked in his favor, because Jun hadn’t been ready to share all of that at _all,_ and yet once he started speaking, it came so naturally. The emotions that followed, however, were not ones he was ready to deal with, and he found himself idly gripping at the sheets below. He stopped himself just enough to not tear, but the danger of him bringing the inn room to ruins was there.

“...As expected,” Nagisa replied.

“Huh?!” Jun turned his head, bewildered by the vague response. Nagisa was staring down at him, a weirdly gentle smile on his face. What was that about?

“...You felt the same way I did,” Nagisa elaborated, brushing back a lock of hair behind his ear. “...Not towards my father explicitly, but towards a man that was as close to me as him.”

Jun rolled onto his back, puzzled thoroughly by the statement. Someone else that Nagisa knew? The way he spoke, it didn’t sound like it was someone that Jun knew, but it would also be odd if it was, because the way Hiyori spoke, Nagisa shouldn’t have known anyone _besides_ him and Ibara, right?

“Ohii-san?” Jun guessed, receiving a chuckle in response. No embarrassment felt this time from getting something wrong, at least.

“...Fufu, no,” Nagisa shook his head lightly. “...I don’t know if I even told Hiyori-kun about him, in fact. I hadn’t thought to say anything about him, until today that is.”

Jun’s head was spinning, and he was really too tired to properly keep up with the unclear direction of this conversation. Then, a thought came to mind, a thought that had remained unanswered that might connect to whatever Nagisa was saying.

“Was it about that guy we saw on the way here?” Jun connected. “That person you had the duel with...Akehoshi?”

The name seemed to bring light into sunset colored eyes, Nagisa wearing the same incredibly gentle looking smile that he’d directed at that boy earlier. Only now, it was directed at Jun. Only, it wasn’t anything to do with Jun, but rather, the name he said.

“...That’s right,” Nagisa answered. “...I met his father once. He and my father, they were as close to each other as family. Like father and son, you could say.”

Jun’s heart raced, and suddenly it dawned on him that he was hearing something about Nagisa that Hiyori _didn’t_ know. Nagisa had said that, right? He’d never talked about this guy with Hiyori, so Hiyori hadn’t known Nagisa met someone else before him...But wait...

“I thought Ohii-san took you in when your dad died,” Jun furrowed his brow, “and weren’t you kept in an all white room like a treasure? When could you have met him...?”

“...You’re not wrong,” Nagisa admitted. “...I remained isolated in that room for most of my existence. Father kept me there from being able to form my own humanity. I was his doll, one he could come to play with every day and project onto me a personality of his own creation. Though my existence was one made for his benefit only...I still believe the person he wanted me to be was one born of love.”

Jun felt a strange lump grow in his chest, the kind that formed when he first heard of his own father’s accusations. What was this oddly defensive behavior? Why did Nagisa look so calm and rational as he spoke about it? There was absolutely no outrage or anger at what he went through at all. He was completely fine with it somehow.

“...When father introduced me to Akehoshi, it was startling for me,” Nagisa continued. “...I had never met another human besides father. Then, Akehoshi came, and the character that father had been training me to be suddenly made sense. Father wanted me to be like him, a hero.” Nagisa stretched a hand out towards the window, blinds drawn and revealing the night sky. He lifted his chin and spoke in a reverent whisper. “He showed me the stars and the constellations. He told me their stories and myths. He told me how humans came to write their stories upon them, and how they would be carried on for forever, even beyond their deaths.”

Nagisa lowered his hand, and then turned back to face Jun. The expression he wore was still complicated, but the smile he held still remained in some fashion.

“...To think I would meet his son in such an inconsequential way,” Nagisa closed his eyes and then reopened them slowly. “...It must have been fate. After all, I am going to see my father soon. It would make sense that I would meet the ghost of that man as well.”

“Why not invite him with us then?” Jun blurted out, not thinking the question through. “I mean...Aside from party size, you could have mentioned that you knew his dad?”

“...No, he didn’t know who I was,” Nagisa shook his head, “nor should he have. Akehoshi truly was loyal to my father to keep his secrets even from his family. As much as I would have liked to tell him, it’s something that should be saved for when my father is finally put to rest. I will fulfill this final mission from him, for that is most important.” Nagisa's eyes lowered to the edge of the bed, hands extending forward and grabbing the blankets and sheets. Slowly, he covered them both, laying on his back next to Jun with hands held around his chest, almost in a way that it looked like he was laid to rest by someone else. Like a corpse...Or a doll. “...I hope our paths might converge one day after, however. I would like to learn more about the one born to he who I was destined to be the successor to.”

Jun’s chest deflated, and he found himself turning to his side away from Nagisa gradually, trying to comprehend the massive truths he’d been told so openly and without restraint to answer. Or, were they all that serious? Maybe Jun was overthinking this. It was late, it had been a thoroughly long day, and Nagisa’s monotonously quiet voice was as sleep-inducing as it was confounding to listen to. Jun’s eyelids began to droop, and his mind began to wander away from the field of mysteries Nagisa had woven.

“...Mm, you be good too, Hiyori-kun.”

“...Huh?” Jun’s eyes had never been so thoroughly snapped out of sleep in a moment like that.

“...Did you not hear him wish us well?” Nagisa questioned out of the blue.

“What are you talking about?” Jun felt an irritation he couldn’t name crawling up his spine, and his tail stiffened in response.

“...Have you not mastered telepathic communication with Hiyori-kun?” Nagisa returned in a sincere sounding tone. Was it sincere? Was it joking? Jun genuinely couldn’t tell, and he couldn’t tell what would be worse. “...Fufu, I win in that regard against you. Because I’ve known him for longer than you.”

Of all the things Jun didn’t want to hear that night, of all the questions he didn’t want to be asked, Nagisa had somehow managed to say all of them. Jun turned his head back to the wall and watched as the light grew dark, but for some reason, he couldn’t find a reason to bid his mind rest anymore. Its ability to rest had been stolen away, just like that, and it was all thanks to the confusing person who slept peacefully at Jun’s back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot to put notes on the last chap 😭 well anyway, thx to anyone who's still reading this monster of a fic, i'm having a blast, hbu?


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